Gary Wang, a lesser-known co-founder of FTX who admitted to fraud in December, is apparently working with authorities and sharing important details regarding his involvement in the operation and eventual failure of the significant cryptocurrency exchange. Wang’s cooperation with prosecutors is reportedly focused on his role at FTX and his participation in the fraudulent operations that contributed to the collapse of the exchange, according to a story published by Insider on Tuesday.
Despite the lack of information on Wang’s level of cooperation, it’s feasible that he has made some kind of arrangement in return for a lighter sentence. According to Insider, Wang’s guilty plea and cooperation with the authorities may be helpful to the prosecution in their continuing case against Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, and other significant people at the exchange.
According to the investigation, Wang was “a critical player during the rise and fall” of FTX, but he was also characterized as naïve and having a tendency to assume the best in those around him. Wang’s father claims that he was always reserved and totally devoted to his interests in math and coding.
Wang, who held the position of chief technology officer at FTX, was the second-largest stakeholder in the business behind Bankman-Fried. Despite this, because of his constant appearance in the media and online, he was often seen as a mystery person. An insider referred to him as a “reclusive figure” who maintained a low profile and apparently didn’t even have a profile photo with his face on it in the organization’s internal database.
During a math camp they both attended as adolescents, Wang and Bankman-Fried initially met. Wang was one of the rare workers who liked to code and worked from home. Wang was previously characterized by an insider at FTX as being someone who was like, “Just tell me what to do and leave me alone.”
In a complaint filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Wang was accused of running “a multiyear scheme to defraud equity investors in FTX.” Gary “has accepted responsibility for his actions and takes seriously his obligations as a cooperating witness,” according to his attorney’s statement from December.
Bankman-Fried, in contrast, has entered a plea of not guilty to the allegations made against him by the prosecution. After first entering a not guilty plea to fraud and other crimes in January, he did so again in March to five more allegations. The 13 charges in the accusation against Bankman-Fried now include information regarding political contributions that the prosecution claims were made in contravention of the law governing campaign financing.
While acknowledging that he made some errors while heading FTX, Bankman-Fried insists that he did not believe he was criminally responsible. Other important figures from FTX, such former CEO of Alameda Research Caroline Ellison and former Director of Engineering Nishad Singh, have admitted culpability to the accusations leveled against them.
Wang’s assistance with prosecutors may be crucial as the case develops in deciding what happens to individuals allegedly responsible for the fraudulent operations at FTX.
