Former FTX CTO Gary Wang Won’t Have to Serve Prison Time, Judge Rules

Former FTX chief technology officer and close friend of Sam Bankman-Fried, Gary Wang, won’t have to serve prison time for his involvement in the crypto exchange’s fraud scheme, The New York Times reported.

Wang pled guilty to four criminal counts in December 2022, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit commodities fraud.

It is thanks to his extensive cooperation with U.S. prosecutors in putting Bankman-Fried behind bars that Wang has avoided prison time, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who has presided over the entire FTX case, said.

Wang immediately met with prosecutors after FTX’s collapse, making him one of two key cooperating witnesses in Bankman Fried’s trial, alongside former Alameda Research CEO and Bankman-Fried’s former girlfriend, Caroline Ellison. For that, he deserved a “world of credit,” Kaplan told Wang during his sentencing.

Wang was the last FTX executive to be sentenced after Ellison was sentenced to two years in prison in September. Nishad Singh, the former director of engineering at FTX, was also spared prison time in October. The harshest sentence was received by Ryan Salame, who is spending seven and a half years in prison for campaign finance fraud.

Wang, in a brief statement before his sentencing, said he was “deeply sorry” for his role in FTX’s fraud. “There are so many things I could have done differently,” he said.