Gary Wang, the co-founder of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is seeking to avoid prison time as he awaits sentencing scheduled for November 20 in Manhattan federal court.
He has asked a federal judge to consider his cooperation in the fraud trial against his long-time friend and former FTX CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF.
Cooperation and Lesser Role in Fraud
According to a Bloomberg report citing his sentencing memo filed on Wednesday, Wang’s attorney, Ilan Graff, argued that his client’s cooperation and comparatively lesser involvement in the FTX fraud scheme should lead to a non-custodial sentence.
Per the report, Graff noted that Wang’s role in the scheme was less central than that of other cooperating executives, including former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX engineering executive Nishad Singh.
“Gary was unaware of the scheme when it started, never informed of its particulars, and unlike Bankman-Fried, Ellison, and Singh, never once took an affirmative step to deceive anyone.”
According to the memo, imposing prison time on Wang would create an “unwarranted sentencing disparity” between him and Singh. Ellison and Singh testified in Bankman-Fried’s trial, with the former receiving a two-year prison sentence and the latter avoiding prison entirely.
Graff also emphasized Wang’s significant role as a witness, which he argued helped prosecutors secure Bankman-Fried’s conviction.
Further, he highlighted personal factors, including how the former CTO has attempted to rebuild his life since the FTX fiasco. He began a new job at an imaging technology company in early 2023 and married shortly after.
Wang and his wife are expecting the birth of their first child just days after his scheduled sentencing. His attorney described him as someone who “wants nothing more than to be a good husband and father” and to continue his work with government authorities and other stakeholders to help recover funds for FTX victims and reduce the risk of future fraud.
Wang’s Guilty Plea and Testimony
The 31-year-old pleaded guilty in 2022 to federal charges tied to a scheme to defraud investors. His admission came shortly after FTX’s dramatic collapse and was part of a deal he reached with prosecutors to cooperate in the investigation.
Wang’s testimony became essential to the case against Bankman-Fried, with the former CTO taking the stand in 2023 to admit his role in FTX’s operations. He confessed to the jury that he had enabled wire fraud by modifying FTX’s code to allow Alameda Research unlimited access to customer funds.
Wang and Bankman-Fried had been close friends since meeting at a math camp in their teens, later becoming fraternity brothers at MIT. After a brief stint at Google, he joined SBF at Alameda Research, and together they co-founded FTX in 2019.
They eventually moved to the Bahamas, where they shared a company penthouse. While Bankman-Fried handled investor relations as FTX’s public face, Wang worked quietly in the background as chief technology officer.
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