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With Sam Bankman-Fried’s arrest earlier this week and with a recent expose about a small software change that allowed FTX to use clients’ funds, the crypto industry is now asking the whereabouts of FTX co-founder Gary Wang, who, according to Bankman-Fried, “is scared.”
Unlike his high-profile co-founder Bankman-Fried, who loves to be the center of attention, FTX co-founder Zixiao “Gary” Wang, is cloaked in mystery and even now, public information about him is scarce.
Wang is described as the brains behind the crypto empire and the crucial key in the meteoric rise and spectacular fall of FTX.
With Bankman-Fried’s arrest, the cryptocurrency space is now looking into Wang, with the belief that the ex-CEO of FTX did not act alone and had help carrying out his strategies that eventually led to the collapse of his empire.
The usual suspects are those in Bankman-Fried’s inner circle, which includes his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison who served as the CEO of the crypto trading firm Alameda Research; Wang, the chief technology officer of both businesses; and Nishad Singh, who served as the director of engineering at FTX.
Apparently, after getting fired from FTX, Wang, Singh and Bankman-Fried went to the Bahamas, where they were “under supervision” by the Bahamian authorities.
Wang is reportedly still in the Bahamas, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter as its source.
In his interview with Vox released on Nov. 16, SBF, as the ex-CEO is more popularly known in the crypto space, revealed that Wang was “scared” and Singh was “ashamed and guilty.”
So far, there is little news about Wang, and being scared may be an understatement considering that he’s widely credited for creating a small change in the code that exempted Alameda Research from automatically selling off its assets if it was losing too much borrowed funds.
According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the change in the code meant Alameda had a “virtually unlimited line of credit.”
The SEC explained in its complaint that the auto-liquidation exemption written into FTX allowed Alameda Research to increase its line of credit continuously until it “grew to tens of billions of dollars and effectively became limitless.”
It is not yet known whether Wang has already lawyered up or is currently working with authorities to cut a deal in exchange for a lighter sentence.
Unlike Wang, Ellison hired Stephanie Avakian, the former SEC chief and now partner and chair of WilmerHale’s Securities and Financial Services Department.
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