Getty Image / Angela Weiss / AFP
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of crypto exchange FTX who went from the 41st richest person in America to broke faster than any billionaire in history, has settled the lawsuit FTX investors filed against him in exchange for his help and cooperation in lawsuits against celebrities like Tom Brady and Shaq who publicly promoted FTX.
This settlement frees Sam Bankman-Fried, better known as ‘SBF’, from civil liability for the same crimes (fraud) that he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for late last month.
But in exchange for the settlement that will “resolve all claims against him now and in the future” according to Bloomberg, SBF will now have to help former FTX investors go after the celebrities and influencers who helped promote FTX. Ava Benny-Morrison and Jef Feeley write that Sam Bankman-Fried will need to “hand over all nonprivileged documents detailing his assets and his investment in artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic, an affidavit certifying his net worth as negative, and documents about other defendants in the wide-ranging civil litigation.”
That list of celebrities and entities who promoted FTX according to the settlement includes Tom Brady, his ex-wife Gisele Bundchen, Shaquille O’Neal, Larry David, Shohei Ohtani, David Ortiz, Udonis Haslem, Stephen Curry, Kevin O’Leary, Naomi Osaka, Formula 1, Major League Baseball, and others.
According to the Bloomberg report, the lawsuit against these celebrities accuses them of “promoting the exchange’s unregistered securities and enticing investors into a Ponzi scheme” and by going after these wealthy individuals the former FTX investors stand to potentially see more money than before with the settlements in the pact each valued at ~$1.3 million.
It is hard to imagine a world where these celebrities will have to pay out millions of dollars given that they themselves were swindled by this fraudster who went from one of the wealthiest men in the world to broken and behind bars within days. But it also appears to be the best chance these former investors have at recouping losses.
By releasing all claims against Sam Bankman-Fried, they are banking on whatever information he has being valuable enough to them in the remaining lawsuits against Tom Brady, Shaq, and other celebrities who promoted FTX. Whether or not Sam Bankman-Fried can actually provide information of value remains to be seen.