Gary Wang, FTX’s co-founder and former chief technology officer, again appeared in court on the fourth day of the criminal trial of former CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried to speak on the connections between the crypto exchange and Alameda Research.
According to reports from Inner City Press, Wang returned to a New York courtroom on Oct. 6 and testified that Alameda’s account on FTX was the only one authorized to trade more than it had available — a feature called “allow negative.” The former chief technology officer reportedly claimed Bankman-Fried had ordered Wang and former FTX engineering director Nishad Singh to implement the feature in 2019.
The “allow negative” addition to FTX code’s, according to Wang, allowed Alameda to achieve a negative balance that was more than FTX had in revenue in 2020 — $200 million versus $150 million. He reportedly testified that Bankman-Fried had given Alameda a $65-billion line of credit despite making contrary statements to the public on the relationship between the two firms.
“We had said we wouldn’t use funds like this,” said Wang, according to reports. “After I said the Alameda balances were off by billions, [SBF] asked to meet in the Bahamas office. He asked me about the bug, and then he told Caroline [Ellison] Alameda can go ahead and return the borrows.”
According to Wang, Bankman-Fried claimed Alameda’s “special privileges” on FTX were centered around the exchange’s FTX Token (FTT), which the firm used for trading “when its account balance was below zero.” The former chief technology officer reportedly testified Alameda had been able to withdraw funds directly from FTX.
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At the center of the prosecution’s case against Bankman-Fried are allegations that the former CEO was responsible for using FTX user funds at Alameda without customers’ consent. During his testimony on Oct. 5, Wang admitted to committing crimes with Bankman-Fried and former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, having already pleaded guilty to fraud charges in December 2022.
“Just as the Elizabeth Holmes trial was not about diagnostic testing, the SBF trial is not about crypto,” Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, told Cointelegraph. “Sam is having a spectacular and ongoing implosion, and as this trial continues, we expect to see further evidence that Sam was out there primarily for himself.”
Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial is expected to continue through November, as Ellison and Singh are also likely witnesses against the former CEO. Between his stints in court, SBF will likely remain in jail through the trial following Judge Lewis Kaplan revoking his bail in August. It’s unclear if Bankman-Fried plans to take the stand himself.
Norman Tebbit, the former Tory minister who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government, has died at the age of 94.
Lord Tebbit died “peacefully at home” late on Monday night, his son William confirmed.
One of Mrs Thatcher’s most loyal cabinet ministers, he was a leading political voice throughout the turbulent 1980s.
He held the posts of employment secretary, trade secretary, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Conservative party chairman before resigning as an MP in 1992 after his wife was left disabled by the Provisional IRA’s bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton.
He considered standing for the Conservative leadership after Mrs Thatcher’s resignation in 1990, but was committed to taking care of his wife.
Image: Margaret Thatcher and Norman Tebbit in 1987 after her election victory. Pic: PA
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called him an “icon” in British politics and was “one of the leading exponents of the philosophy we now know as Thatcherism”.
“But to many of us it was the stoicism and courage he showed in the face of terrorism, which inspired us as he rebuilt his political career after suffering terrible injuries in the Brighton bomb, and cared selflessly for his wife Margaret, who was gravely disabled in the bombing,” she wrote on X.
“He never buckled under pressure and he never compromised. Our nation has lost one of its very best today and I speak for all the Conservative family and beyond in recognising Lord Tebbit’s enormous intellect and profound sense of duty to his country.
“May he rest in peace.”
Image: Lord Tebbit and his wife Margaret stand outside the Grand Hotel in Brighton. Pic: PA
Tory grandee David Davis told Sky News Lord Tebbit was a “great working class Tory, always ready to challenge establishment conventional wisdom for the bogus nonsense it often was”.
“He was one of Thatcher’s bravest and strongest lieutenants, and a great friend,” Sir David said.
“He had to deal with the agony that the IRA visited on him and his wife, and he did so with characteristic unflinching courage. He was a great man.”
Reform leader Nigel Farage said Lord Tebbit “gave me a lot of help in my early days as an MEP”.
He was “a great man. RIP,” he added.
Image: Lord Tebbit as employment secretary in 1983 with Mrs Thatcher. Pic: PA
Born to working-class parents in north London, he was made a life peer in 1992, where he sat until he retired in 2022.
Lord Tebbit was trade secretary when he was injured in the Provisional IRA’s bombing in Brighton during the Conservative Party conference in 1984.
Five people died in the attack and Lord Tebbit’s wife, Margaret, was left paralysed from the neck down. She died in 2020 at the age of 86.
Before entering politics, his first job, aged 16, was at the Financial Times where he had his first experience of trade unions and vowed to “break the power of the closed shop”.
He then trained as a pilot with the RAF – at one point narrowly escaping from the burning cockpit of a Meteor 8 jet – before becoming the MP for Epping in 1970 then for Chingford in 1974.
Image: Lord Tebbit during an EU debate in the House of Lords in 1997. Pic: PA
As a cabinet minister, he was responsible for legislation that weakened the powers of the trade unions and the closed shop, making him the political embodiment of the Thatcherite ideology that was in full swing.
His tough approach was put to the test when riots erupted in Brixton, south London, against the backdrop of high rates of unemployment and mistrust between the black community and the police.
He was frequently misquoted as having told the unemployed to “get on your bike”, and was often referred to as “Onyerbike” for some time afterwards.
What he actually said was he grew up in the ’30s with an unemployed father who did not riot, “he got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking till he found it”.
The first European state visit since Brexit starts today as President Emmanuel Macron arrives at Windsor Castle.
On this episode, Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy look at what’s on the agenda beyond the pomp and ceremony. Will the government get its “one in, one out” migration deal over the line?
Plus, which one of our presenters needs to make a confession about the 2008 French state visit?