Former crypto executive Gary Wang, who wrote the computer code that helped FTX founder Sam Bankman Fried steal about $8 billion from the bankrupt exchange's customers, was sentenced to prison by a judge on Wednesday. I was spared.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan announced during a hearing in federal court in Manhattan that he would not impose any prison time. The judge praised Mr. Wang's cooperation with prosecutors, noting that Mr. Wang learned of Bankman Freed's misconduct later than those around his former boss.
“You have the right to be admired by the world for standing up to your responsibilities,” Kaplan said. “Your period of conviction was extremely short compared to the period of conviction of the other defendants in this case.''
Mr. Wang, who is in his early 30s, has pleaded guilty to four felonies of fraud and conspiracy and testified as a prosecution witness last year in the trial that convicted Mr. Bankman Freed of fraud and other charges.
Wang and Bankman Fried met at a summer math camp when they were both high school students.
They reunited while attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology and eventually entered the cryptocurrency business together.
Wang was one of several FTX executives who lived with Bankman Fried in a $35 million penthouse in the Bahamas, where the exchange was headquartered until its November 2022 bankruptcy. Ta.
Bankman Fried, 32, was found guilty by a jury last year of stealing client funds to finance the Alameda Research hedge fund, make speculative venture investments and donate to political campaigns. He is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence imposed by Kaplan.
The depraved child prodigy is appealing his conviction and sentence.
Wang, FTX's former chief technology officer, told a jury in October 2023 that his former boss tweaked FTX's software code to give Alameda special privileges and that the fund secretly secreted billions from the exchange. He said he was instructed to withdraw the dollars.
His lawyers acknowledged that he continued to work to maintain FTX's platform even after learning of Bankman Freed's fraudulent activities. Mr. Wang apologized on Wednesday.
“I chose the easy way out, the cowardly way, instead of doing the right thing,” Wang told the court. “I will spend the rest of my life doing everything I can to make amends.”
Prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan had asked for leniency, citing Wang's cooperation. Wang also said he has built software to help the U.S. government uncover fraud in the stock market, and is working on similar tools for the crypto market.
“Mr. Wang has a unique skill set that allows him to actually do something and apply some of the skills he was using to commit fraud to productive purposes,” prosecutors said. Nicholas Roos said Wednesday.
Mr. Wang's lawyer, Ilan Graf, said Mr. Wang did not initially know that Mr. Bankman Freed had instructed Mr. Alameda to receive special privileges in order to steal the funds. He said Wang did not profit from the fraud.
“Gary did not intentionally create a so-called backdoor that others could exploit to steal customers' money,” Graff said in court.
Mr. Wang was the last member of Mr. Bankman Fried's former aide to be sentenced by Mr. Kaplan.
Bankman Freed's former girlfriend, Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, was sentenced in September to two years in prison. Another FTX computer programmer, Nishad Singh, who pleaded guilty, was spared prison time last month.
