The co-founder of the FTX digital asset exchange won’t be going to jail after supplying the U.S. federal government with tools to identify fraudulent transactions in both traditional securities and cryptocurrencies.
On November 20, FTX co-founder/former CTO Zixiao ‘Gary’ Wang was sentenced to time served and three years of supervised release for his role in the massive fraud that led to FTX’s collapse in November 2022. Shortly after that collapse, Wang was charged with conspiracy to commit fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud.
Wang quickly pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York (SDNY). Wang was the first FTX criminal defendant to cooperate, leading prosecutors to argue for leniency from U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in a pre-sentencing memo earlier this month.
On November 20, Kaplan agreed, telling Wang he was “entitled to a world of credit” due to “the extent …