A former top FTX executive charged with writing computer code for now imprisoned FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to help steal billions of dollars from cryptocurrency customers, was spared prison time by a Manhattan judge on Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said during a hearing in federal court in Manhattan that he would not be imposing prison time on former FTX Chief Technology Officer Gary Wang.
Instead, Kaplan praised Wang’s cooperation with U.S. prosecutors, noting that he learned of Bankman-Fried’s fraud later than others in his former boss’s circle.
“You’re entitled to a world of credit for facing up to your responsibility,” Kaplan said. “The period of your culpability was in comparison to the periods of the culpability of the other defendants in this case, extremely small.”
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Wang, who is in his 30s, pleaded guilty to four felony counts of fraud and conspiracy, and last year he testified as a prosecution witness in the trial that led to Bankman-Fried’s conviction on fraud and other charges.
The two met at a summer math camp when they were in high school, and reconnected while studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Eventually, the two went into the cryptocurrency business together.
Wang and several other FTX executives lived with Bankman-Fried in a $35 million penthouse in the Bahamas, where the exchange was based until it went bankrupt in November 2022.
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Bankman-Fried is now serving a 25-year prison sentence imposed by Kaplan after being found guilty by a jury last year of stealing customer money to prop up his Alameda Research hedge fund, making speculative venture investments, and contributing to U.S. political campaigns.
Wang testified against his boss in October 2023, saying Bankman-Fried instructed him to adjust the company’s software code to give Alameda special privileges and enabling the fund to secretly withdraw billions of dollars from the exchange.
After learning of the fraud, Wang’s attorneys acknowledged, he continued to work to maintain the FTX platform. He apologized for his actions on Wednesday.
“I took the easy path, the cowardly path, instead of doing the right thing,” Wang told the court. “I plan to spend the rest of my life doing everything I can to make amends.”
Wang has since built software for the government that will not only uncover stock market fraud but also help spot crypto-crime.
In fact, the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan asked for leniency in the sentencing, hoping to give weight to his cooperation and his help in stopping future fraud.
“Mr. Wang has this unique skill set where he can actually do something and deploy some of the skills he was using to perpetrate the fraud to productive ends,” prosecutor Nicolas Roos said Wednesday.
Kaplan ultimately agreed and spared Wang from having to serve time in prison.
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Wang is the final member of Bankman-Fried’s former inner circle to be sentenced by Kaplan.
Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried’s former girlfriend, was sentenced in September to two years behind bars and Nishad Singh, another FTX computer programmer, was spared prison time.
FOX Business’ Christina Shaw and Reuters contributed to this report.
