Gary Wang, formally known as Zixiao Wang, got attention for his involvement in a multi-billion dollar scandal with the cryptocurrency exchange FTX with Sam Bankman-Fred.
Wang moved from China to Minnesota at eight years old. From a young age, he showed a high aptitude for math and science. In sixth grade, Wang tested into the University of Minnesota’s Talented Youth in Mathematics Program in Rochester, where he stayed in the program for four years until ninth grade and finished learning calculus. These four years of study were pivotal in developing his later interests in math and computer science.
In 2008, Wang moved to South Jersey and attended Cherry Hill High School East, where he took the highest level math course available — Multivariable Calculus. Throughout high school, he competed in the American Mathematics Competition (AMC) and North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad (NACLO) and was consistently ranked in the top 50 in the nation.
His parents recalled how they would bring Wang to the library every weekend in middle school to foster his love of reading. However, after entering high school, he spent almost all of his free time and summers on computer science and coding.
“From a young age, he was very quiet and solely focused on his strongest interest in math and coding,” explained his father.
As student yearbooks from his time at East reveal, Wang was a member of East’s Math Club, Chess Team, Chemistry Club, Science Olympiad and Science Team and opted to go by “Gary Wang” rather than “Zixiao Wang”. A 2010 music program kept on record from the time also reveals that Wang played in the second violin section of East’s Symphony Orchestra. Only Wang’s participation in East’s Math Club, Chess Team, Chemistry Club, and Science Olympiad, however, is confirmed to have spanned multiple years.
Wang wouldn’t have much time to prepare for his school classes and tests. His parents remembered how sometimes Wang would only start studying the night right before his SAT subject tests. In multiple instances, he would still earn a perfect score.
Despite his extensive engagement in school extracurriculars, few of the teachers Eastside interviewed remembered many details about Wang.
“He doesn’t stand out to me…[and I can’t quite remember him],” one teacher anonymously said.
After high school, he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied mathematics and computer science.
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
“Toward himself, he lived a very frugal life, eating vegetarian, spending minimum…and putting his own income back into the company,” said his father, who seemed to have a hard time understanding his son’s views.
“Regarding FTX, he wasn’t interested in the communication or management parts of the company. He was only interested in his part of work, [which was] coding,” said his mother.
Wang’s father: “Now that it has happened, we are advising him to face the reality and deal with whatever is coming.”
Wang pleaded guilty in a plea bargain to federal charges in December, 2022 and is cooperating with prosecutors for committing wire fraud and three counts of conspiracy involving wire, securities and commodities fraud. His lawyer, Ilan Graff, stated that "Gary has accepted responsibility for his actions and takes seriously his obligations as a cooperating witness.
Below are evidences Wang testfied at the SBF trial today:
Q. Did you commit financial crimes while working at FTX?
A. Yes.
Q. What types of crimes did you commit?
A. Wire fraud, securities fraud, and commodities fraud.
Q. Did you commit these crimes by yourself or with other people?
A. With other people.
Q. Who were the main people you committed these crimes with?
A. Sam Bankman-Fried, Nishad Singh, and Caroline Ellison.
Q. You're talking about Alameda Research?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. We'll come back to it in a minute. When you say withdrew unlimited amounts of funds, whose funds are you talking about?
A. Those of customers.
Q. Let's talk about——sorry. And customers of what?
A. Customers of FTX.
Q. Mr. Wang, do you see any of the people you committed those crimes with in the courtroom today? You can stand up if you need to.
A. Yes.
Q. Who do you see?
A. Sam Bankman-Fried. MR.
ROOS: Let the record reflect the witness has identified the defendant.
Q. Mr. Wang, in general terms for now, what did you do with the defendant that was the wire fraud you were referring to?
A. We gave special privileges to Alameda Research on FTX, which allowed it to withdraw unlimited amounts of funds from the platform, and we lied about this to the public.
Q. When you say withdrew unlimited funds from the platform, what are you referring to?
A. It had the ability to, regardless of what was in the account, to withdraw unlimited amounts of money.
PS, 1) Both Nishad Singh, and Caroline Ellison ( SBF's ex-girlfriend) plead guilty and will testify against SBF; 2) This post was compiled from multiple sources of reports and did due diligence research to keep it accurate.
Wang moved from China to Minnesota at eight years old. From a young age, he showed a high aptitude for math and science. In sixth grade, Wang tested into the University of Minnesota’s Talented Youth in Mathematics Program in Rochester, where he stayed in the program for four years until ninth grade and finished learning calculus. These four years of study were pivotal in developing his later interests in math and computer science.
In 2008, Wang moved to South Jersey and attended Cherry Hill High School East, where he took the highest level math course available — Multivariable Calculus. Throughout high school, he competed in the American Mathematics Competition (AMC) and North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad (NACLO) and was consistently ranked in the top 50 in the nation.
His parents recalled how they would bring Wang to the library every weekend in middle school to foster his love of reading. However, after entering high school, he spent almost all of his free time and summers on computer science and coding.
“From a young age, he was very quiet and solely focused on his strongest interest in math and coding,” explained his father.
As student yearbooks from his time at East reveal, Wang was a member of East’s Math Club, Chess Team, Chemistry Club, Science Olympiad and Science Team and opted to go by “Gary Wang” rather than “Zixiao Wang”. A 2010 music program kept on record from the time also reveals that Wang played in the second violin section of East’s Symphony Orchestra. Only Wang’s participation in East’s Math Club, Chess Team, Chemistry Club, and Science Olympiad, however, is confirmed to have spanned multiple years.
Wang wouldn’t have much time to prepare for his school classes and tests. His parents remembered how sometimes Wang would only start studying the night right before his SAT subject tests. In multiple instances, he would still earn a perfect score.
Despite his extensive engagement in school extracurriculars, few of the teachers Eastside interviewed remembered many details about Wang.
“He doesn’t stand out to me…[and I can’t quite remember him],” one teacher anonymously said.
After high school, he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied mathematics and computer science.
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
“Toward himself, he lived a very frugal life, eating vegetarian, spending minimum…and putting his own income back into the company,” said his father, who seemed to have a hard time understanding his son’s views.
“Regarding FTX, he wasn’t interested in the communication or management parts of the company. He was only interested in his part of work, [which was] coding,” said his mother.
Wang’s father: “Now that it has happened, we are advising him to face the reality and deal with whatever is coming.”
Wang pleaded guilty in a plea bargain to federal charges in December, 2022 and is cooperating with prosecutors for committing wire fraud and three counts of conspiracy involving wire, securities and commodities fraud. His lawyer, Ilan Graff, stated that "Gary has accepted responsibility for his actions and takes seriously his obligations as a cooperating witness.
Below are evidences Wang testfied at the SBF trial today:
Q. Did you commit financial crimes while working at FTX?
A. Yes.
Q. What types of crimes did you commit?
A. Wire fraud, securities fraud, and commodities fraud.
Q. Did you commit these crimes by yourself or with other people?
A. With other people.
Q. Who were the main people you committed these crimes with?
A. Sam Bankman-Fried, Nishad Singh, and Caroline Ellison.
Q. You're talking about Alameda Research?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. We'll come back to it in a minute. When you say withdrew unlimited amounts of funds, whose funds are you talking about?
A. Those of customers.
Q. Let's talk about——sorry. And customers of what?
A. Customers of FTX.
Q. Mr. Wang, do you see any of the people you committed those crimes with in the courtroom today? You can stand up if you need to.
A. Yes.
Q. Who do you see?
A. Sam Bankman-Fried. MR.
ROOS: Let the record reflect the witness has identified the defendant.
Q. Mr. Wang, in general terms for now, what did you do with the defendant that was the wire fraud you were referring to?
A. We gave special privileges to Alameda Research on FTX, which allowed it to withdraw unlimited amounts of funds from the platform, and we lied about this to the public.
Q. When you say withdrew unlimited funds from the platform, what are you referring to?
A. It had the ability to, regardless of what was in the account, to withdraw unlimited amounts of money.
PS, 1) Both Nishad Singh, and Caroline Ellison ( SBF's ex-girlfriend) plead guilty and will testify against SBF; 2) This post was compiled from multiple sources of reports and did due diligence research to keep it accurate.
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