Gary Wang, co-founder and former chief technology officer of failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has become the latest witness to testify in the criminal trial of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF).

According to the "Inner City Press" report, Gary Wang, who had previously pleaded guilty and turned into a tainted witness, testified in court on Thursday (October 5) and admitted that during his tenure at FTX, he executed in front of SBF and FTX sister company Alameda Research. The crime was committed with the assistance of Chief Executive Officer Caroline Ellison and former FTX Engineering Director Nishad Singh.

Gary Wang, who testified for about half an hour, said in response to questions from Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon: "We allowed Alameda (from FTX) to withdraw unlimited funds," and "we lied to the public." He continued:

Sam (SBF) handles speaking to the media, lobbying and communicating with investors. I'm the one writing the code... and (when there are differences of opinion) the final decision-making power still belongs to Sam.

Gary Wang said that not only was Alameda Research allowed to maintain a negative balance sheet and unlimited open positions, but the computer program that controlled these operations was also written to provide a $65 billion line of credit. The amount was so large that Judge Lewis A. Kaplan at one point asked Gary Wang to make sure he was talking about tens of billions of dollars, not millions.

Gary Wang, who immigrated to the United States from China and grew up in Minnesota, and met SBF at a high school summer camp more than ten years ago, said that such special computer program functions were developed under the orders of SBF.

Gary Wang said he earned a salary of $200,000 and owned 10% of Alameda and 17% of FTX, enough to make him a billionaire before the company collapsed.

At Alameda Research, money flowed freely, he said, and he was able to borrow $1 million to buy a house and $200 million to $300 million to invest.

October 5 was the third day of SBF’s criminal trial in New York. Witnesses mainly mentioned the relationship between Alameda and FTX before FTX filed for bankruptcy, including testimony that SBF directly instructed employees to use FTX user funds to cover the losses suffered by Alameda. Gary Wang had reached an agreement with prosecutors before he testified as part of his December 2022 plea deal to turn into a tainted witness. Caroline Ellison and Nishad Singh are also expected to testify against the SBF before the criminal trial concludes in November. The trial is expected to last six weeks.

Judge Lewis Kaplan revoked SBF's bail application in August due to prosecutors' allegations that he was involved in intimidating Caroline Ellison and other witnesses, so he is likely to remain in jail during the criminal trial.

It is unclear whether the SBF plans to defend itself at trial. Under the U.S. Constitution, no one can be compelled to give specific testimony that might incriminate him/herself.

This article allows you to take FTX customer funds as you please! Gary Wang appeared in court and admitted that he was instructed by SBF to install a backdoor. The post appeared first on Blockchain.