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- Several celebrities were called out for their involvement with FTX for advertisement purposes.
- The popular American singer was also named in the case. However, they dodged the possibility of dispute firsthand.
The fall of FTX resulted in a ripple effect across the crypto industry which later expanded beyond it. Entities and people in contact with the Bahamian crypto exchange or its founder and former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, were scrutinized. The trail reached several celebrities with links with the bankrupt crypto firm. NBA star Stephen Curry, NFL player Tom Brady, and even celebrated singer-songwriter Taylor Swift were named in the FTX case.
Though others were still part of the legal case, Taylor Swift, on the other hand, got rid of the issue by just being aware.
Attorney Adam Moskowitz, one of the lawyers handling the class action lawsuit filed in November 2022 in Miami, revealed the insights of the 5 billion USD lawsuit. According to the attorney, only Taylor Swift was among the celebrities who checked if FTX sold unregistered securities.
Moskowitz said, “The one person I found that did that was Taylor Swift. In our discovery, Taylor Swift asked them, ‘Can you tell me that these are not unregistered securities?’”
However, the alleged 100 million USD sponsorship deal between Swift and FTX reportedly never materialized.
The lawsuit sought by Moskowitz named a dozen celebrities. Along with Stephen Curry and Tom Brady, it included basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, famous tennis player Naomi Osaka, American comedian Larry David, etc. He said these celebrities didn’t do due diligence on FTX before endorsing its advertisements.
“I mean, why would you possibly promote cryptocurrency if it may be an unregistered security? That’s just baffling to me. There’s a long list of influencers that promoted this. But you know, you’ve got to be realistic. I mean, I can’t go after 1,000 right now. So you go after the largest ones.”
In addition to the FTX lawsuit, Moskowitz is also handling the legal battle against promoters of another crypto firm Voyager Digital.
The Bahamian crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy in November last year after holding its position as the second biggest crypto exchange. Along with FTX, its sister trading firm Alameda Research also filed for bankruptcy. Executives of both companies were reportedly blamed for the untimed collapse of crypto companies and indicted with multiple charges, including wire fraud and money laundering, etc.
Former chief executive officer Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in December 2022 by the Bahamian authorities. Later he was extradited to the United States. He is now facing around 13 counts of charges against him.