- Gary Wang is the fifth former executive of now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX to be sentenced for his role in the company’s collapse.
- Wang was sentenced to prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a fine of $11 billion.
- Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, Nishad Singh and Ryan Salame are also former FTX employees who were indicted and sentenced.
Gary Wang, the co-founder of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, avoided prison time after Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York sentenced him to prison.
According to CNBC, Wang was sentenced to three years of supervised release in a ruling on Wednesday, November 20, 2024.
The fraud indictment also means a former FTX executive, the fifth person to be criminally charged in connection with the FTX collapse, is also set to forfeit $11 billion. This order was also passed on to other defendants in the case.
Mr. Wang was not jailed.
Judge Kaplan’s ruling comes weeks after another former FTX official, Nishad Singh, also avoided jail time. Wang once cooperated with the prosecution of FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for bringing down a top cryptocurrency exchange.
Wang’s lawyers argued that the co-founder and former FTX chief technology officer (CTO) did not fully understand the crimes taking place on the exchange. He also had no knowledge of the events that swept Alameda Research, a hedge fund and subsidiary of FTX.
Caroline Ellison, head of Alameda Research and Bankman-Fried’s key witness, was sentenced to two years in prison and recently began serving her prison sentence.
Another former FTX employee/official sentenced to prison is Ryan Salame, who was sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison in May.
Wang and Singh are the only people to avoid prison after serving their sentences. Judge Kaplan sentenced Singh to October 2024.
In Wang’s case, his testimony to SBF and the overall agreement that he did not play a leading role in the crimes he helped commit.
Also supporting his claim is the claim that FTX co-founders have already built an interface to help governments detect potential fraud across the market.
FTX collapsed in November 2022.