The class action lawsuit filed against the former CEO of FTX for the collapse of its crypto consortium will also involve other defendants such as Larry David, Naomi Osaka, Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen and Shaquille O’Neal, for having controlled, promoted, aided or actively participated in FTX Trading.
The lawsuit alleges that in order to promote FTX’s unregistered securities, the company used a number of prominent sponsors for the sole purpose of steering investors into a Ponzi scheme.
As if it were a showbiz or Hollywood theme, the issue surrounding the crypto company FTX is more than hot and in the eye of the hurricane, growing as the days go by, leaving more and more chapters of intrigue with each new piece of information that comes to light as if it were a soap opera.
Recapping a bit on this “crypto-novel”, a few days ago Binance announced that it would liquidate all its positions in the FTT token, the native token of FTX, this led to question whether the platform had liquidity problems to which Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX came out to declare that the platform was stable.
Despite Bankman-Fried’s statements, Binance’s action caused investors to also start liquidating their positions causing millions of dollars to leave the platform leading to FTX’s collapse.
Binance decided to support the company to avoid falling into disgrace. However, due to several irregularities presented around the FTX platform, Binance announced that it would desist from the purchase of the crypto firm, which led FTX and 130 firms affiliated to the exchange to declare bankruptcy and Sam Bankman-Fried, retired from his position and apologized for his mismanagement,
Subsequently the crypto company’s assets were frozen by the Bahamian regulator, while deep scrutiny by U.S. authorities began, especially over some reports that $10 billion in FTX customer assets were transferred to Bankman-Fried’s trading firm, Alameda Research.
The firm’s misfortune, was the advantage of others, as FTX’s fall boosted Trezor sales, plus it helped Uniswap become the second largest Ethereum exchange.
Celebrities named in class action lawsuit against FTX.
Currently the controversy continues, since as they say colloquially, “to add salt to the wound”, a class action lawsuit was filed in the United States against the former CEO of FTX, for the collapse of its digital consortium, which was filed on November 15 in Miami, United States.
However, the lawsuit does not stop there, as it also involved other defendants, celebrities who backed the firm and its token, who, it is claimed, “controlled, promoted, aided or actively participated in FTX Trading”.
Some of these defendants are Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, Kevin O’Leary, Udonis Haslem, David Ortiz, Steph Curry, Shaquille O’Neal, Trevor Lawrence, Shohei Ohtani, Larry David and Naomi Osaka were named in connection with at least $1 billion in missing customer funds from the exchange.
Lawsuit alleges sale of unregistered securities
The plaintiffs stated in the legal document that FTX’s performance-generating accounts were illegally traded in the United States.
In addition, Oklahoma resident Edwin Garrison, one of the plaintiffs, noted that when the digital asset exchange experienced cash flow problems, U.S. investors suffered damages totaling $11 billion.
The lawsuit alleged that FTX tried to destroy emails, texts and incriminating evidence of its criminal activities. However, evidence recovered suggests “FTX’s fraudulent scheme was designed to take advantage of unsophisticated investors across the country who use mobile apps to make investments,” said Edwin Garrison.
In addition, the legal team advising Garrison stated that in order to push FTX’s unregistered securities, the company used a number of prominent sponsors for the sole purpose of steering investors into a Ponzi scheme.
It is worth noting that this pyramid scheme is prohibited by law.
In addition, Garrison noted that through the Ponzi scheme, investor funds were transferred to other entities, with the objective of making it appear as if FTX was supposedly liquid. Therefore, what is being targeted by the law is not the cryptocurrency exchange that allowed the purchase and sale of this type of assets, but rather one that promised to pay interest to those who invested in these virtual currencies.
Therefore, the lawsuit argues that it integrates the aforementioned celebrities, because they used deceptive practices, with the purpose of selling an interest-bearing account service in FTX digital currency.
Filed in Florida by class action attorney Adam Moskowitz, this class action case against a crypto firm is one of the first to attempt to hold prominent entertainers and athletes who promoted cryptocurrencies in the boom years accountable for their support.
