On November 20, 2024, in the United States District Court in Manhattan, New York City, Gary Wang, a former executive at the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, who testified against founder Sam Bankman Fried, was charged with fraud. Attend the sentencing.
Brendan McDiarmid | Reuters
FTX co-founder and former technology chief Gary Wang was sentenced Wednesday to a term of imprisonment and three years of supervised release on each of the four charges to which he pleaded guilty, leading to five years of supervised release for the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange. He was the first and last former employee. to be punished. Wang, along with other co-defendants, was ordered to forfeit $11 billion.
Wang, who took the stand during the trial of his former boss, Sam Bankman Freed, faces up to 50 years in prison on four criminal charges to which he pleaded guilty, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit commodity fraud. could have been punished. Conspiracy to commit securities fraud.
After former FTX technology chief Nishad Singh was sentenced by Judge Lewis Kaplan last month and spared a prison term, Wang is seeking the same sentence, citing his near-immediate cooperation with the government. Ta.
When given the opportunity to address the court, Mr. Wang said he was deeply sorry to all FTX’s customers and investors.
“Instead of doing the right thing, I took the easy way out, the cowardly way out,” Wang said in a short speech in court, pointing to a printed piece of paper that he never referenced on stage. He spoke while clutching his hand.
“I’m going to spend the rest of my life making amends,” he added.
Wang’s parents and his wife, who is pregnant with their first child, also appeared in court to support him.
Mr. Wang’s lawyers say that, unlike other cooperating witnesses, Mr. Wang did not know the full extent of the crime and that FTX’s sister hedge fund, Alameda Research, was receiving client funds. He said he didn’t know about it until it started.
The government also called for lenient treatment for Mr. Wang.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Luce said Wang was one of the easiest witnesses he had ever worked with, carefully deciphering the complex codes used by FTX to extract customers’ money and helping the government. Wang was credited with essentially deciphering half of the case. Remove from exchange.
Prosecutors said in sentencing submissions that since testifying against the former FTX CEO, Wang had “utilized his extraordinary computer programming skills to detect potential fraud in the stock and cryptocurrency markets” and that the government He added that he built an interface that started using it. To detect potential fraud by public companies.
Additionally, “Mr. Wang is also working on tools to detect potential illegal activity in the cryptocurrency market, and if Mr. Wang is sentenced to prison, the government will continue to work with Mr. Wang as part of his continued cooperation. I understand that I will complete it.”
Ruth also said that while Wang was the first FTX employee to come through the government’s doors, he was the last to be sentenced as FTX’s criminal proceedings near the end. pointed out.
In March, Bankman Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered by Judge Kaplan to pay $11 billion, the harshest penalty.
Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, a key witness in Bankman Freed’s prosecution and his ex-girlfriend, was sentenced to two years in prison for her role in the crime. And Ryan Salame, another former top Bankman Freed lieutenant, was sentenced in May to 7 1/2 years in prison, exceeding the maximum recommended by prosecutors.
All former FTX executives face sentencing before Judge Kaplan. The no-nonsense 78-year-old judge is a veteran of the Southern District of New York, having presided over several major cases at his courthouse, located at 500 Pearl Street in downtown Manhattan.
“I’ve never seen anything quite like what happened here,” Kaplan said of Wang’s cooperation. “You deserve a lot of credit.”
