Brady, Curry, Shaq Among Athletes Facing Lawsuit in FTX Debacle

The cryptocurrency exchange platform filed for bankruptcy last week.

A slew of high-profile athletes and celebrities are listed on a class-action lawsuit filed against the cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried. 

Tom Brady, Stephen Curry, Naomi Osaka, Trevor Lawrence, Larry David, Shohei Ohtani and Shaquille O'Neal are a few of the names included on the filing that alleges FTX and the former CEO violated Florida law by misleading customers. The lawsuit claims these individuals, among others, “either controlled, promoted, assisted in, and actively participated” in the alleged scheme where they “aggressively marketed” FTX.

Oklahoma resident and investor Edwin Garrison is leading the class-action, which alleged the cryptocurrency platform “was designed to take advantage of unsophisticated investors from across the country.” According to the class-action, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, customers sustained $11 billion in damages. 

The filing describes the company as “truly a house of cards, a Ponzi scheme where the FTX Entities shuffled customer funds between their opaque affiliated entities, using new investor funds obtained through investments in the YBAs and loans to pay interest to the old ones and to attempt to maintain the appearance of liquidity.” 

FTX recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO. Crypto prices had plummeted, leaving the platform unable to cover its customers’ accounts when there was a rush of withdrawals. But the platform’s problems extend beyond financial issues. The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department are also investigating FTX. 

The Warriors are also listed in the class-action. Golden State told ESPN on Monday that it has paused FTX-related activities with the last promotion being the Jordan Poole bobblehead that was given out Monday night. However, they’re not the only team having to address their partnership with the platform. 

Miami-Dade County and the Heat released a joint statement Friday that they would “take action immediately to terminate” the business relationship with FTX. This includes plans to “seek a new naming rights partner” for the franchise’s venue—currently named FTX Arena—per the statement. Additionally, Mercedes decided last week to remove FTX logos from its Formula One cars as it suspends the sponsorship deal, per Autosport.

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