Celebs like Tom Brady, Larry David did ads for crypto giant FTX. Now they're getting sued

At its peak, crypto giantFTX was so big it attracted celebritieslike tennis pro Naomi Osaka and actor Larry David to promote itsbrand. Now its collapse is shining a critical light on the industry and pulling the stars into a lawsuit, too.

A legal complaint filed this week in Miami accuses now-bankrupt FTXand its CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, of deceiving consumers into investing.

The class-action lawsuit, which has yet to be certified by a court, also names 12 celebrity "brand ambassadors" as defendants, including Osaka, David, quarterbackTom Brady, model Giselle Bndchen, former basketball player Shaquille O'Nealand Canadian businessman Kevin O'Leary.

But the celebrity-studded legal complaint is just one chapter in the sagaof Bankman-Fried'scollapsing crypto exchange, which filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11.

The three-year-old empire FTX, FTX.US and a trading firm called Alameda Research once valued at $32 billion US, is fast becoming anothercautionary crypto tale.

Bankman-Fried has been oscillating from regretful to defiant in tweets posted from his home in the Bahamas, saying he will raise $8 billion to fix FTXand then telling aVox reporter, "F--kregulators [they] make everything worse."

The details of the meteoric fall of FTXare emerging in the bankruptcy process.

'Complete failure of controls'

John J. Ray, the new court-appointed CEO of FTX,says he has overseen many corporate failures in his 40-year career, including the liquidation ofEnron, but saidthis week:"Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here."

London-based crypto blogger David Gerardspoke to CBC's The Current on Friday and said Bankman-Fried came across as kind of a "nerdy, misunderstood trading genius."

But behind the scenes, bankruptcy filings now showFTX wasshuffling money between entities shoring each up with no backing, Gerard said.

"He knew he was broke. He was going out there nodding and smiling butknew FTX was a dead company," Gerard told CBC.

As for the celebrity endorsements, Gerard said stars werelikely well paid.

"It was a gig," he said.

And for investors, he saidthe draw was the promise that "you could get rich for free. Who doesn't want free money?"

FTX appeared strong and solvent, up until November.

But a balance sheet obtained first by the Financial Timesand summarized in theChapter 11 petitions in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delawareshowed FTX had about $1 billion in cash or crypto currency backed by U.S. dollars whichwas offset by$9 billion US owed to customers.

Ray, the new court-appointed CEO, calls the FTX situation "unprecedented" and says thecompany was in the control of a"very small group of inexperienced, unsophisticated and potentially compromised individuals."

He calls Bankman-Fried's ongoing tweets "erratic and misleading public statements."

All this has left the cryptocurrency industry reeling.

"The more that gets uncovered, the more in awe those of us in the industry are about just how much of a cluster f--k ... it's just a complete mess," said Brian Mosoff, CEO of Toronto-based Ether Capital.

Mosoff says this crash will leave investors fearful.

"You just have this monumental collapse of this enormous and well-respected entity seemingly overnight. Everyone's a little blindsided," Mosoffsaid.

Ironically, the adLarry David filmed for FTXin which his character is portrayed asfoolish forrejectingcrypto now seems prescient.

The two-minute spot features David as a curmudgeonly character who travels through time, expressingdisdain for inventions ranging from the wheel to coffee to the light bulb, and insisting they'll never catch on. At the end of the two-minute spot, he rejectsFTX. Now David is accused of being culpable for Americans' trust in FTX.

Celebs face damagedreputations

Dave Pouliot, lawyer and Montreal founder of Coinmiles, says he's not sure if actors can be held accountable but says they may think twice before endorsing another crypto-token-based venture.

"Their personal reputation risk is at stake here. I think these are actors, they're being paid to endorse a brand publicly. So whether or not they could be found liable from a civil perspective, butreputational damage will be done. They are not likely to appear in another commercial of an investment nature," Pouliotsaid.

His company does not take investor money, instead offering bitcoin rebates to users. But Pouliot says he'd like to see the industry moved to regulate itself, building in better protections and education.

Part of the problem with FTXwas how great its founder seemed.

Bankman-Fried is a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics student who hadworked at Jane Street, an elite financial firm. After founding FTX, he attracted top Silicon Valley investors and donated millions topoliticians, pushing for regulatory change.

It was after the rival owner of theworld's largest exchange questioned FTX's stability thatcracks appeared.

There was a three-day panic sell-off costing FTXbillions.

BinanceheadChangpeng Zhao considered buying FTX butbacktracked, citing regulator concerns. But further industry regulation is futile, Mosoff said.

"You can tick off as many regulatory check boxes and paper filings as you want. If [bad actors] want to do something nefarious, they'llfind a way to do it," he said.

WATCH | The Passionate Eyelooks at how online day traders disrupted the stock market:

A community of investors took on Wall Street and won | Wall Street Blues

2 years ago

Duration 1:07

The GameStop stock frenzy caught a lot of people off guard, including the hedge funds that were trying to make money from the store's demise

Mosoff says the Mount Goxscandal, a Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange that imploded in 2014, and Quadriga the exchangewhose founder, Gerald Cotten, died mysteriously in 2018, taking the keys to $250 million in crypto assets to the grave did not scare people away for good.

He said the FTX saga will hopefully slow the flocks of"get-rich-quick" investors drawn by bitcoin's rise from $4,000 to a$70,000 high in 2020.

"People were blindly sending money in to buy these assets," he said.

In the end, despite volatility, Mosoffsaid he believes that when the current drama shakes out, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum will still retain their glitter.