Former FTX Executive May Not Go to Jail for Positive Collaboration

Key Points:

• Gary Wang, a former FTX executive, is developing software to help the U.S. government detect fraud in the stock market.
• Wang cooperated extensively with federal prosecutors, providing crucial information that led to significant insights into the FTX fraud.

According to Reuters, the former FTX executive Gary Wang is now working on software to help the U.S. government spot fraud in the stock market, federal prosecutors said.

Read more: FTX Co-Founder Gary Wang Hopes Not to Go to Jail 

Gary Wang Developing Fraud-Detecting Software for US Government Following FTX Scandal

Wang, who helped write much of the code that permitted his former boss, Sam Bankman-Fried, to steal billions of dollars from cryptocurrency customers, is also working on devising tools to detect crimes on cryptocurrency exchanges.

Prosecutors said this in a court filing on November 15 in advance of seeking leniency for the former FTX executive ahead of sentencing scheduled for November 20 before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan. Wang’s cooperation with investigators is highly regarded, and he was referred to by one prosecutor as the “easiest cooperator” they’ve worked with, Inner City Press reported. Wang’s contributions were substantial, aiding in obtaining relevant information about the fraud case against FTX.

Wang pleaded guilty to fraud-related charges in December 2022 after the collapse of FTX and its bankruptcy filing in the wake of a liquidity crisis. Bankman-Fried, now serving a 25-year prison sentence for the theft of $8 billion from FTX customers, was convicted last year.

Sentencing of Former FTX Executive as Defence Seeks Leniency for Cooperation

Wang’s case is the last of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle to be decided by Judge Kaplan. Others from the scandal included Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research, and Nishad Singh, a programmer on FTX. Both have received their sentences already.

During Bankman-Fried’s trial, the former FTX executive testified that he modified FTX’s software at Bankman-Fried’s request, allowing Alameda Research to withdraw billions from the site in secret.

Wang’s defence team has asked he not be sent to prison in light of his extensive cooperation with prosecutors. Many details of his ongoing software projects were redacted in the court filing to keep those projects secure.