Gary Wang is an American businessperson, best known for his former role as an executive at cryptocurrency firm

FTX FTX Trading Ltd., commonly known as FTX (short for "Futures Exchange") is a bankrupt company that formerly operated a cryptocurrency exchange and crypto hedge fund. The exchange was founded in 2019 and, at its peak in July 2021, had over one mi ...

. Before co-founding FTX with Sam Bankman-Fried, he worked at

Google Flights Google Flights is an online flight booking search service which facilitates the purchase of airline tickets through third-party suppliers. It was launched by Google in 2011 following a buyout. It is now part of Google Travel. History In April 2 ...

, building system for aggregating prices over millions of flights. Prior to FTX's collapse, he was ranked the 227th richest American in the ''

Forbes 400 The ''Forbes'' 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by ''Forbes'' magazine of the wealthiest 400 American citizens who own assets in the U.S., ranked by net worth. The 400 was started by Malcolm Forbes in 1982 and the list is publ ...

'', and the 431st

richest person in the world By nationality * List of Argentines by net worth * List of Americans by net worth **List of richest Americans in history * List of Australians by net worth ** ''Financial Review'' Rich List * List of Austrians by net worth * List of Belgians by ...

by ''

The World's Billionaires ''The World's Billionaires'' is an annual ranking by documented net worth of the wealthiest billionaires in the world, compiled and published in March annually by the American business magazine ''Forbes''. The list was first published in March ...

''.

Early life and education

Wang grew up in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and graduated in 2011 from

Cherry Hill High School East Cherry Hill High School East (also known as Cherry Hill East or CHE) is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades in Cherry Hill, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States, operating as p ...

. He attended USA/Canada Mathcamp, where he met his future classmate and cofounder

Sam Bankman-Fried Samuel Benjamin Bankman-Fried (born March 6, 1992), also known by the initialism SBF, is an American suspected fraudster, entrepreneur, investor, and former billionaire. Bankman-Fried was the founder and CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX ...

. After high school, he attended the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, where he studied mathematics and computer science. At MIT, he was a member of Epsilon Theta, a coed fraternity.

Career

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. On December 18, 2022, Wang pleaded guilty in a

plea bargain A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or '' nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendan ...

in the

Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New Y ...

to 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."

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni American business executives Former billionaires Cherry Hill High School East alumni {{US-business-bio-stub