Futures Exchange (FTX) CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has been at the center of many stories within the past week after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on November 11, 2022. This comes at a time when CoinDesk, a news publication following cryptocurrency trading, issued a report on FTX.
Following the CoinDesk article outlining the company; and possibly even more newsworthy, those at the post of the company, including their luxurious lifestyles in the Bahamas, sexual lifestyles, and using company funds for luxury goods; Binance CEO Changoeng Zhao announced that Binance would be selling their remaining investments held with the company. Binance is a significant competitor to FTX in the crypto trading market. Binance’s decision to pull their investments hurt FTX enough, however, the decision to announce that they’d be withdrawing from FTX caused many other investors to realize staying with FTX would be a financial disaster. Due to the large pullout, the $30 billion company that’s only 3 years old has dropped like a rock, and the empire appears to be close to worthless at this point
CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is at the center of discussion for many. He donated $10 million in 2020 helping to get Joe Biden elected, and then became Democrats’ second largest doner when he donated $39 million during the 2022 Midterm election cycle towards Democratic candidates and organizations, according to data from Open Secrets, which listed him as the nation’s sixth-largest individual midterm donor, as well as Bidens second-largest donor. It is alleged that the money spent on these candidates, as well as in many other areas of Bankman-Fried’s life, wasn’t his money, instead, it was money that customers of FTX put into the company as an investment. While they assumed a reputable company was assisting them in growing their money throughout the future, instead, FTX was spending it on political donations and living the high life in the Bahamas.
The ten young billionaires are alleged to have not only been at the top of the company, but also have been alleged to have all been in a polyamorous relationship with one another. Quickly, after news broke alleging the polyamorous heads of FTX had a multi-million dollar residence in the Bahamas, all being in a polyamorous relationship, and all regularly taking large amounts of amphetamines, Adderall particularly being alleged; the public opinion of FTX and those at the top of the company began to shift. The once widely known and reputable cryptocurrency trading company crashed in a historic fashion overnight.
As a result of the fallout, many people have their assets in the company frozen, and there are fears that the untrustworthy FTX leadership may have already spent the money. Looking for someone to blame, lawsuits are being filed against the celebrities who have been in advertisements for were endorsed by FTX. Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, along with supermodel ex-wife Gisele Bündchen have both been named in the lawsuit. The former couple appears in a highly successful television commercial for FTX in 2020, when Tom Brady was ending his legendary, and a nearly 20-year-long stint with the New England Patriots and was looking for a new team to continue his career.
Other celebrities listed in the lawsuit includes, and are not limited to, celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary, who assured potential investors and the public that FTX was reputable and reliable, Golden State Warriors point guard Steph Curry, former Boston Redsocks baseball player David Ortiz, basketball legend throughout the early 2000s, Shaquille O’Neal, comedian Larry David, and young second-year quarterback for the Jacksonville JaguarsTrevor Lawrence.
