On November 20, FTX co-founder Zixiao 'Gary' Wang will stand before a judge in a courtroom in New York to learn whether he will serve years in prison or be allowed to remain free after pleading guilty to fraud charges.
Wang, one of five former executives of FTX and Alameda Research named in the indictment related to the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange and the misuse of user funds, is expected to be sentenced in the Southern District Court of New York on November 20. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud, commodities fraud, and securities fraud and has testified at the criminal trial of Sam 'SBF' Bankman-Fried, which may have contributed to the former FTX CEO receiving a 25-year prison sentence.
This 31-year-old man could be the last criminal participant in the FTX case to appear in court after Bankman-Fried, former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, and former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets Ryan Salame, all of whom have received prison sentences. However, a judge sentenced Nishad Singh, former technical director of the cryptocurrency exchange, to time served in October.
It is unclear whether Wang can receive a lenient sentence from Judge Lewis Kaplan, who has overseen all criminal cases. His attorney argued in a sentencing proposal that Wang had the 'least culpable role' in the fraud against FTX users. Prosecutors also suggested that the FTX co-founder could be free to develop a 'tool to detect illegal activity in the cryptocurrency market' if sentenced to time served.
Gary Wang has known Sam Bankman-Fried since childhood
Wang met Bankman-Fried at a math camp while in high school, and both became roommates at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Although Wang worked with Google for three years after graduation, SBF persuaded him to leave the company and join Alameda, later helping to establish FTX in 2019.
The FTX co-founder met his partner, Yiling 'Cheryl' Chen, while working at the cryptocurrency exchange, and married her in 2023. Many letters advocating for a lenient sentence for Wang describe him as a 'quiet' man with a 'simple' life.
'Gary has acknowledged his mistakes and deeply regrets his involvement, and I know he takes full responsibility for his actions,' Adam Jin, a former FTX employee, stated in a letter submitted on November 18.
After FTX collapsed and filed for bankruptcy in November 2022, Wang and Ellison were among the first related to the exchange to plead guilty to criminal charges and cooperate with authorities. Singh followed suit by pleading guilty in February 2023.
The charges Wang admitted to could send the FTX co-founder to federal prison for several years. Ellison received a two-year sentence for her role in the collapse of FTX, while Salame — who is also facing political funding charges — received a seven-and-a-half-year sentence.
FTX users are expected to start receiving back the frozen funds in their accounts after the bankruptcy court approved a reorganization plan in October. Bankman-Fried, who is currently being held in a New York prison, has appealed the sentence and the sentence length.
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