
Former FTX executive Gary Wang is set to retake the stand on Friday and continue testifying against his former roommate and boss, Sam Bankman-Fried, who stands accused of stealing billions of dollars from customers of the cryptocurrency exchange.
Wang, 30, is among three insiders of FTX who have pleaded guilty to fraud charges and entered a cooperation agreement with the government. Bankman-Fried was a roommate at college before co-founding the hedge fund Alameda Research.
He testified that while in FTX, Wang created software code that gave Alameda special privileges, allowing it to withdraw unlimited funds.
Prosecutors have said the privileges used by Bankman-Fried were one of the main tools used to plunder customer assets, resulting in the exchange's collapse in November 2022.
Bankman-Fried's lawyer, James Bankman-Fried, said FTX was a startup and that Alameda was not just an ordinary customer on the exchange but a market maker, which generated supply and demand in the exchange's early days.
While Wang is the first cooperation partner to take the stand, jurors have heard from three other witnesses so far. A former FTX user testified he was unable to withdraw his funds after the exchange collapsed, and Matt Huang, head of a crypto-focused fund that invested in FTX, said he was told Alameda received 'no preferential treatment' on the platform.
Adam Yedidia, a former FTX computer programmer who reported to Wang, testified that he expressed concern to Bankman-Fried in mid-2022 after learning that Alameda had borrowed $8 billion from the exchange. He said Bankman-Fried appeared worried and told him the companies were 'not bulletproof' as they had been the year before.
The founder of blockchain lender BlockFi, Zac Prince, is among those expected to testify after Wang's trial resumes next Tuesday.