Former FTX Executive Gary Wang Avoids Prison Time After Building Crypto Surveillance Tools for Government: Report

The former chief technology officer of disgraced crypto exchange FTX is dodging prison time by cooperating with the US government.

According to a report from Reuters, Wang – a computer programmer who unwittingly wrote the code that allowed former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to steal billions of dollars from customers – is being spared prison for his role in the multibillion-dollar downfall of FTX.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said that Wang will be avoiding prison time because he served as a key witness against Bankman-Fried during the trial and went on to create tools to help the government uncover fraud.

According to previous reports, Wang’s tools aim to enable surveillance of both the stock and crypto markets.

“In a further, extraordinary step, Gary has worked with the government to design and build a new software tool to detect potential financial fraud in public markets and, at prosecutors’ direction, is currently developing a separate tool focused on identifying illicit activity on crypto exchanges.”

Bankman-Fried was found to be siphoning billions of dollars worth of customer funds from FTX and pouring them into Alameda Research, the crypto exchange’s sister company, as a means of arbitrage trading and making risky bets.

He was convicted of defrauding investors and mishandling customer funds and handed a sentence of 25 years behind bars. His ex-girlfriend and former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison was recently sentenced to two years behind bars for her role in the debacle.

Wang testified against Bankman-Fried in 2023, saying that he was instructed to create the code that allowed his boss to secretly move funds from FTX to Alameda.

 

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