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Former FTX coding chief Gary Wang is building tools to help the US government combat fraud in the crypto and stock markets.
Wang, who has been cooperating with authorities, testified against Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) in 2023, stating, “We allowed Alameda to withdraw unlimited funds... [SBF handled] speaking to the media, lobbying, talking with investors. I just coded [...] in the end it was Sam's decision to make [regarding any disagreements]."
Wang admitted to altering code at Bankman-Fried’s request in 2019, enabling Alameda Research, FTX's affiliated hedge fund, to access special privileges on FTX.
Prosecutors have plauded Wang for his "outstanding" assistance in the FTX case, revealing that he had created "tools" to help the US government detect
“Wang has also provided substantial assistance — and in the process taken steps to right past wrongs — by putting his extraordinary computer programing skills to use in detecting potential fraud in the stock and cryptocurrency markets,” federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing submission filed on Wednesday.
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Wang is due to be sentenced on 20 November for his role in FTX's collapse. The government has already recongised that Wang did not lie to customers or spend customers' money, unlike other FTX executives.
No sentence has been recommended but prosecutors are pushing for leniency on the account of his cooperation.
“Gary was unaware of the scheme when it started, never informed of its particulars, and unlike Bankman-Fried, Ellison, and Singh, never once took an affirmative step to deceive anyone,” Wang’s lawyer Ilan Graff wrote in a submission last week.
Prosecutor Nicolas Roos further highlighted that Wang was the first FTX insider to cooperate with authorities despite little evidence linking him to fraud.
Apple Studios and A24 are joining forces to bring Michael Lewis’s bestseller Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon to the big screen, diving into the meteoric rise and crash of SBF and FTX.
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Our money's on Jesse Eisenberg to play the lead, with Kristen Stewart as Caroline Ellison and Steven Yeun as Gary Wang.
