30s Summary

Former FTX top tech executive, Gary Wang, awaits sentencing for four crimes related to the crypto exchange’s crash. Wang, who didn’t participate in money laundering or creating fake income, seeks leniency due to cooperating with prosecutors and not profiting substantially from the exchange’s downfall as his former colleagues did. His lawyers also highlight his humble disposition and his efforts to start over by returning to a software engineering role and starting a family. His sentence will be declared in November.

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Gary Wang, once the top tech guy at FTX and part of ex-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s crew, wants to avoid any time behind bars for his part in the crypto exchange’s crash last year.

Wang’s the fourth one from FTX to get sentenced. This past December, he owned up to four big-time crimes – wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud.

Though those crimes could land him in prison for 50 years, it’s more likely that what happened with his former work buddies might clue us in on his fate. This coming November, Judge Lewis Kaplan of New York is set to declare his sentence. Sam Bankman-Fried, the previous CEO who was found guilty of seven fraud and conspiracy charges, is now serving 25 years in prison. Ryan Salame, ex-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, pleaded guilty to two charges but didn’t help out prosecutors so his sentence was 7.5 years. Caroline Ellison, ex-boss at Alameda Research, got 2 years after she pleaded guilty to the same charges as Bankman-Fried. Last month, Nishad Singh, their former director of engineering, didn’t get any jail time after he pleaded guilty to six charges and helped out the prosecutors.

In their report to the court, Wang’s lawyers said that he and Singh kind of have a similar story. They both got into this mess pretty late and were bad influenced by Bankman-Fried. Both of them did a good job cooperating with prosecutors though. But according to Wang’s lawyers, he didn’t get into trouble to the same extent as Singh did and made less cash from it. For example, he didn’t participate in money laundering or create fake income.

In fact, his job at FTX was all about coding – including the notable “backdoor” that let Alameda grab funds from FTX customers. Basically, Wang wasn’t aware that Bankman-Fried would abuse that feature to pinch customer money.

Unlike the others, Wang’s lawyers said, he just wanted his $200,000 annual salary and didn’t seek anything more. He only used the $1 million loan that Bankman-Fried gave him unsolicited to loan his then-fiancee $200,000 to buy a house. The rest of the cash was in his FTX account when it went down.

They also said that Wang never cared about the fame or wealth that his colleagues seemed to have soaked up during FTX’s run. He even testified at Bankman-Fried’s trial wearing the same suit he wore back in high school.

After FTX crashed, Wang moved back in with his mom and took a job at a 3D imaging company as a software engineer. He got married to his fiancee this January. They’re expecting their first kid later this month. So, it’s pretty clear his lawyers are pushing the narrative of ‘he’s turned his life around, let him go!’ We’ll have to see how it goes when he’s sentenced on November 20th.