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FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and a string of A-list celebrities who supported his failed crypto trading platform have been sued in an $11 billion class action lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed in Florida names stars such as Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, Shaquille O’Neal, Steph Curry and Larry David.
It alleges that Bankman-Fried, 30, and the celebrities he recruited to endorse FTX are responsible for US consumer losses worth $11 billion.
Many of the stars were “ambassadors” of the trading platform, while others appeared in prime-time commercials.
The lawsuit, brought by class action attorney Adam Moskowitz, alleges that they are collectively “responsible for the multibillion-dollar damages they have inflicted on Plaintiff.”
It was submitted as Bankman-Fried continued a desperate attempt to save his reputation on Wednesday by admitting: “We became overconfident and careless.”
Bankman Fried and several of his celebrities are being sued in a class action lawsuit alleging that the collapse of FTX cost American consumers $11 billion
Tom Brady and now ex-wife Gisele Bundchen entered into a stock deal with FTX last year. They are named in a class action lawsuit alleging that the company’s collapse cost consumers $11 billion
Naomi Osaka took an equity stake in the popular crypto exchange in March this year
He posted several tweets trying to explain how FTX crashed and even spoke about the company’s extensive media coverage earlier this year, writing, “I was on the cover of every magazine and FTX was Silicon Valley’s darling.” ‘
Bankman-Fried has already been subject to several investigations into the company’s collapse.
Authorities in America and the Bahamas, where FTX was based and Bankman-Fried is currently hiding, are discussing the possibility of extraditing him to the United States for questioning.
The scandal has led to a crisis of confidence in cryptocurrency as a whole and has caused the value of assets, including Bitcoin, to plummet.
The list of names in the new filing includes: ‘Sam Bankman-Fried, Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors, Shaquille O’Neal, Udonis Haslem, David Ortiz, William Trevor Lawrence, Shohei Ohtani, Naomi Osaka, Lawrence Gene David and Kevin O’Leary.”
They are described in the 41 pages as “parties that controlled, promoted, assisted and actively participated in FTX’s operations,” allegedly in violation of Florida law.
The suit adds: “The misleading and failed FTX platform was based on false representations and deceptive behavior.
While many incriminating FTX emails and texts have already been destroyed, we found them and they prove how FTX’s fraudulent scheme was designed to take advantage of inexperienced investors across the country, who use mobile apps to manage their investments. to do.
Bankman-Fried suggested media coverage of FTX made the company “overconfident and careless”
Steph Curry signed a partnership with FTX in September 2021, though details were not made public
Larry David, who appeared in a Super Bowl ad for FTX, is also named in the lawsuit
“As a result, U.S. consumers collectively suffered more than $11 billion dollars in damages.”
NFL star Brady and Bundchen, his supermodel ex-wife, are named as FTX ambassadors who “joined the company’s $20 million ad campaign in 2021” and starred in a commercial “showing they acquaintances told to join the FTX platform’.
Basketball player Curry is singled out for appearing in an ad campaign saying he doesn’t need to be an expert in crypto, because “with FTX I have everything I need to buy, sell and trade crypto securely.”
David appeared in a Super Bowl commercial for FTX, portraying a series of ignorant characters who rejected clever ideas throughout history, including the toilet and the light bulb.
The ad then showed David rejecting FTX, before displaying a message: “Don’t be like Larry.”
Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal, who appeared in an FTX commercial, is named in the suit
Shaquille O’Neal also appeared in an FTX commercial, as did Steph Curry. Osaka was an “ambassador” for the company.
The lawsuit states, “The deceptive FTX platform operated by the FTX entities was really a house of cards, a Ponzi scheme where the FTX entities shuffle client funds between their opaque affiliates, using new investor funds obtained through investments in the YBAs [yield-bearing accounts] and loans to pay interest on the old and to try to maintain the appearance of liquidity.
“Part of the scheme employed by the FTX entities involved using some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment — such as these defendants — to raise funds and induce American consumers to invest in the [yield-bearing accounts]which were largely offered and sold from the domestic base of the FTX entities here in Miami, Florida, poured billions of dollars into the deceptive FTX platform to keep the whole scheme going.”
The lawsuit was filed in Florida’s Southern District as Bankman-Fried continued his desperate efforts to save his empire.
In a series of tweets on Wednesday, he complained that FTX was “getting overconfident and careless,” writing, “I was on the cover of every magazine and FTX was Silicon Valley’s darling.”
The thread also said, “A few weeks ago, FTX was processing ~$10B/day in volume and billions of transfers.
“But there was too much influence—more than I realized. A run on the bank and a market crash deplete liquidity.
‘So what can I try to do? Increase liquidity, complete customers and reboot.
“Maybe I fail. Maybe I’m not getting more for clients than what’s already there.
“I’ve definitely failed before. You all know that all too well now.
‘But all I can do is try. I’ve failed enough for the month.
“And part of me thinks I can get somewhere.”