FTX co-founder Gary Wang retires completely! Avoids imprisonment with the cooperation of the investigation

According to reports from Inner City Press and Reuters, Gary Wang, co-founder and former CTO of FTX, was acquitted by the judge because he fully cooperated with the investigation and testified in the criminal trial of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF).

At Wednesday's sentencing hearing, the prosecutor publicly praised Gary Wang as the "most cooperative" key witness, providing crucial information for the case investigation. Judge Lewis Kaplan also admitted, "I have never seen a situation like this," and affirmed Gary Wang's decision to repent from his mistakes and stand on the side of the law.

FTX declared bankruptcy in November 2022 due to a liquidity crisis, triggering a wave of fraud allegations. This also led to the dissolution of Alameda Research, a closely related trading company. SBF was convicted of 7 counts of fraud and conspiracy, and sentenced to 25 years in prison and a fine of 11 billion USD in March of this year.

The collaboration between Gary Wang and SBF can be traced back to a math summer camp in high school. The two later attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) together and co-founded Alameda Research after graduation. Although Gary Wang was not initially listed as a formal co-founder or held a senior position, he was responsible for writing the code required for trading operations and assisting in the business development of Alameda.

Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research, was sentenced to 2 years in prison in September for cooperating with the investigation; Ryan Salame, former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, a subsidiary of FTX in the Bahamas, has been imprisoned for 7 and a half years; as for Nishad Singh, former Director of Engineering at FTX, he was exempted from imprisonment due to his assistance to the prosecution in the FTX bankruptcy case and the judge's consideration of the relatively minor nature of his crime.

This article was first published in "Blockwave".