FTX co-founder Gary Wang asks judge for no prison time

Sam Bankman-Fried’s college friend and FTX co-founder Gary Wang is asking a federal judge to spare him prison time, just days after denying prison time to FTX executive Nishad Singh.

FTX co-founder Gary Wang pleads with federal judge not to give him prison time; It’s the same sentence given to FTX’s former engineering chief Nishad Singh during his sentencing.

Wang’s attorney, Ilan Graff, argued in a memo addressed to Manhattan federal court that giving Wang a prison sentence after pardoning Singh “would create an unfair sentencing disparity.”

Graff alleged that Wang’s involvement in the fraud was much less direct compared to other FTX executives who testified at the hearing against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, namely former Alameda Chief Executive Caroline Ellison and former FTX engineering executive Nishad Singh.

“Gary was unaware of the scheme when it began, was never privy to its details, and unlike Bankman-Fried, Ellison, and Singh, never took any affirmative action to deceive anyone,” Graff wrote.

Like Ellison and Singh, Wang testified against his longtime friend Sam Bankman-Fried. He told the jury during the trial that FTX was instructed to change its code so Alameda Research could access customer funds.

Graff also said in the memo that Wang was expecting her son to be born just days after her scheduled sentencing on Nov. 20.

According to the statement, Wang has been working at an imaging technology company since February 2023 and currently “wants to be a good husband and father and continue to work with the Government and other stakeholders to facilitate the recovery of FTX victims and reduce the risk of future death fraud.”

In his memo, Wang claimed that he was unaware of the crimes being committed behind the scenes and learned of them “after things were well advanced and he had been lied to and deceived by Sam Bankman-Fried.”

Wang is one of Bankman’s closest and most trusted colleagues. They met at math camp as teenagers before moving in together in the same fraternity at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

After working at Google, Wang worked with Bankman-Fried at Alameda Research and then co-founded FTX in 2019. Bankman-Fried became the face of FTX as CEO, while Wang served as the company’s chief technology officer.

Following FTX’s collapse, Wang was one of the first executives to meet with federal prosecutors to discuss a possible deal. Bankman-Fried was found guilty of defrauding customers and investors of up to $10 billion. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his crimes.

Caroline Ellison was sentenced to two years in prison, despite her lawyers initially asking that she be spared prison time just like Singh and Wang.