Gary Wang (executive)

Gary Wang is an American former businessperson who pleaded guilty for his former role as an executive at cryptocurrency firm FTX.[2] Before co-founding FTX with Sam Bankman-Fried, he worked at Google Flights, building system for aggregating prices over millions of flights.[3] Prior to FTX's collapse, he was ranked the 227th richest American in the Forbes 400, and the 431st richest person in the world by The World's Billionaires.[4]

Gary Wang
Born1992 (age 30–31)
China
NationalityAmerican
Other namesZixiao Wang[1]
Known forFTX

Early life and education

Wang grew up in New Jersey and graduated in 2011 from Cherry Hill High School East.[1] He attended Canada/USA Mathcamp, where he met his future classmate and cofounder Sam Bankman-Fried in 2010.[5][6] After high school, he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied mathematics and computer science.[7] At MIT, he was a member of Epsilon Theta, a coed fraternity[8] with Sam Bankman-Fried.[6]

Career

At FTX, he served as chief technology officer. He was the second-largest shareholder of FTX at the time of the collapse of the company.[9] Wang owned 17% of FTX and 10% of Alameda Research, a sister firm of FTX and co-founded by Bankman-Fried.[6][10]

On December 18, 2022, Wang pleaded guilty in a plea bargain[11] in the Southern District of New York to wire fraud and three counts of conspiracy involving wire, securities and commodities fraud relating to helping Bankman-Fried defraud FTX customers and for which he faces 50 years in prison.[6] His lawyer, Ilan Graff, stated that "Gary has accepted responsibility for his actions and takes seriously his obligations as a cooperating witness."[12][13]

As part of his plea bargain, Wang testified in United States v. Sam Bankman-Fried that "with some simple tweaks to computer code," he helped Alameda Research take as much as $65 billion from FTX customers and that he "lied about this to the public."[6]

References
  1. Boiskin, Asher; Zhang, Alena; Lampf, Brielle. "We found Gary Wang. Here's what we know". Eastside Online. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  2. Mckenzie, Ben; Silverman, Jacob (2023). Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud. New York, New York: Abrams Press. p. 235. ISBN 978-1-4197-6639-8.
  3. "Gary Wang". Forbes. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
  4. "Gary Wang". Forbes. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
  5. Nolan, Beatrice. "Gary Wang, the mysterious FTX cofounder, has pleaded guilty to fraud charges. Here's what we know about the key player in the failed crypto empire". Business Insider. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
  6. Gura, David (October 21, 2023). "They were Sam Bankman-Fried's friends. Now they could send him to prison for life". NPR. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
  7. "Gary Wang". garywang.scripts.mit.edu. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
  8. Gardizy, Anissa. "Here's what you need to know about Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang agreeing to plead guilty to FTX charges - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
  9. Nolan, Beatrice. "Gary Wang, the mysterious FTX cofounder, has pleaded guilty to fraud charges. Here's what we know about the key player in the failed crypto empire". Business Insider.
  10. Goldstein, Matthew; Stevenson, Alexandra; Farrell, Maureen; Yaffe-Bellany, David (November 18, 2022). "How FTX's Sister Firm Brought the Crypto Exchange Down". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
  11. Goswami, MacKenzie Sigalos,Rohan (December 22, 2022). "FTX's Gary Wang, Alameda's Caroline Ellison plead guilty to federal charges, cooperating with prosecutors". CNBC. Retrieved August 27, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. Yaffe-Bellany, David; Goldstein, Matthew; Weiser, Benjamin (December 21, 2022). "Two Executives in Sam Bankman-Fried's Crypto Empire Plead Guilty to Fraud". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 22, 2022.
  13. Newmyer, Tory; Jacobs, Shayna (December 21, 2022). "Two Bankman-Fried colleagues plead guilty to fraud". The Washington Post.


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