FTX Co-Founder Gary Wang Hopes Not to Go to Jail

Key Points:

• FTX co-founder Gary Wang requested a non-custodial sentence due to his limited role in the FTX crisis.
• His lawyer argued Wang was less involved compared to others.

According to Bloomberg, Gary Wang, the former chief technology officer and a co-founder of the bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange, has asked a federal judge for leniency in sentencing, citing his cooperation in the fraud trial against Sam Bankman-Fried.

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FTX Co-Founder Gary Wang Seeks Leniency in Sentencing

In a memo filed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court, Wang’s attorney, Ilan Graff, emphasized Wang’s cooperation with the government and his relatively minor role in the scheme and asked for a non-custodial sentence.

Graff reminded the judge that Wang-who pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy shortly after the 2022 implosion of the company, vital to prosecutors, testifying how Bankman-Fried allegedly had ordered him to make changes to the code of FTX, letting the firm’s hedge fund, Alameda Research, siphon customer funds.

The sentencing of FTX co-founder Gary Wang, scheduled for November 20, comes just days before the birth of his first child. His attorney argued that prison time for Wang would be an “unwarranted sentencing disparity” considering the sentence without jail time for Nishad Singh, a former executive of FTX’s engineering group who testified in the trial, and former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison.

New Life and Commitment to FTX Victim Restitution

Graff said Wang stood apart from his coconspirators because he was not a party to most facts of the scheme, and he did not take affirmative actions to deceive investors. Since his guilty plea, Wang has turned his life around, beginning work for an imaging technology company with a wife whom he married in January 2023. He said he wants to help recover funds for victims of FTX.

FTX co-founder Gary Wang has been a longtime friend of Bankman-Fried, having attended math camp with him as a teenager before later attending MIT. That friendship spawned the creation of FTX in 2019, but Wang has since been trying to distance himself, becoming one of the first insiders to cooperate with authorities.