FTX co-founder Gary Wang, through his legal team, requested a non-custodial sentence in a memo filed last November 6 in connection with United States v. Sam Bankman-Fried.
The computer programmer argued that he may not serve any jail time about his alleged involvement in the failed FTX, as he was a key witness against Sam Bankman-Fried.
According to Wang’s attorney, Ilan Graff, the suspect should not serve any prison time because he has consistently cooperated, and this lack of guilt should result in a non-custodial sentence.
On March 28 last year, Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to pay up to $11 billion, in addition to a 25-year prison sentence. From Wang official condemnationas party and key witness, is scheduled for November 20.
Gary Wang, a key witness against FTX’s Bankman-Fried
In one conviction document Filed on November 6 last year, Wang asked to be released from prison because he helped build the case. On page 2 of the document, Gary Wang’s team argued that Gary’s testimony was crucial to the case.
A screenshot of Wang’s arguments for why he should be granted a non-custodial sentence. Source: CourtListener
The document added that Wang “testified vigorously” for three days and shared how Bankman-Fried exploited the system to his advantage.
Wang also stated that he played a limited role in the FTX fraud worth more than $10 billion. Wang even compared his limited role to that of Caroline Ellison and Nishad Singh, who he claimed contributed more to the fraud.
Wang’s sentencing is set for November 20
According to reports, sentencing is scheduled for November 20, with Judge Lewis Kaplan on the bench. Last September, Judge Kaplan handed Ellison and Singh a two-year sentence for time served.
In his defense, Wang countered that a prison sentence would lead to comparisons with Singh and would not take into account his cooperation with the court and his minimal culpability.
Gary Wang is part of the Bankman-Fried Inner Circle
Wang belongs to Sam’s inner circle within the FTX. He was also among those who met with U.S. prosecutors to negotiate a plea deal in exchange for information about the operation of the FTX. As part of his discussions with prosecutors, Wang shared some details about FTX, which led to its bankruptcy and subsequent class actions.
Wang also participated in the trial against Sam and told how his co-founder instructed him to change the exchange’s codes. This code change allowed Alameda Research to steal and use customer money before the practice was unraveled in 2022.
Alameda investigation was a cryptocurrency trading company that acquired and sold digital currencies in various parts of the world. It was co-founded in 2017 by Sam Bankman-Fried and Tara MacAulay.
For Wang, he had only minimal involvement in the fraud. He added that he only heard about it late in the day and that he had been misled and lied to by his friend. In addition to his participation in this process, Wang also worked with the government to build software systems to detect fraud.
Featured image by Yuki Iwamura, Bloomberg/Getty Images, chart from TradingView