Prosecutors went to the heart of their case against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried on Thursday as the company's co-founder began his testimony, telling a New York jury that he and Bankman-Fried committed financial crimes and lied to the public before the cryptocurrency trading platform collapsed last year.
Gary Wang, 30, said he committed wire, securities and commodities fraud as the chief technical officer at FTX after also sharing ownership in Alameda Research, a cryptocurrency hedge fund that he and Bankman-Fried started in 2017 and eventually used to withdraw $8 billion in FTX funds illegally. He said Bankman-Fried directed the illegal moves.
Before the trial began Tuesday, prosecutors promised to use testimony from Bankman-Fried's “trusted inner circle” to prove he intentionally stole from customers and investors and then lied about it. Defense lawyers say Bankman-Fried had no criminal intent as he took actions to try to save his businesses after the cryptocurrency market collapsed.
Wang testified that the special computer code features were directed by Bankman-Fried, a man he met over a decade ago at a high school summer camp after moving to the United States from China and growing up in Minnesota. Wang is the first of a trio of former top executives slated to testify against Bankman-Fried after pleading guilty to fraud charges in cooperation deals that could win them substantial leniency at sentencing.
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