“I’m never wrong about this stuff, ever,” a dismissive and mocking Larry David said earlier this year in this now infamous Super Bowl ad for investing in cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
While the Seinfeld co-creator rejected the wheel, coffee, the US Constitution, electricity, putting a man on the moon and more innovations in highly rated advertising, it looks like David might be right about FTX now collapsed, for all the good it’ll do do it.
Alongside Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, Stephen Curry and Golden State Warriors Shaquille O’Neal and Naomi Osaka, David is now charged in a class action lawsuit against the now-empty FTX and its ex-CEO Sam. Bankman-Fried.
“In addition to defendant Sam Bankman-Fried’s conduct as described in this complaint, some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment have either invested in FTX or served as brand ambassadors for the company” , declares the jury trial following a complaint filed in Florida federal court today by Edwin Garrison on behalf of all “American consumers” who “collectively suffered more than $11 billion in damages” as a result of the recent FTX crash. “A number of them promoted FTX to their social media fans, driving retail consumers to adopt the misleading FTX platform,” adds the graphics-heavy class action lawsuit (read- the here).
In Curry’s case, the NBA legend admitted in another tongue-in-cheek TV spot that he doesn’t know much about crypto. He added, looking at the camera: “I don’t need to be. With FTX, I have everything I need to securely buy, sell, and trade crypto.
Maybe not so much now that he and the others have to defend themselves.
The heavy use of celebrities convinced consumers to pour “billions of dollars into the deceptive FTX platform to keep the whole system afloat,” the filing by attorney Adam Moskowitz and a brigadier continues. other lawyers. “The deceptive FTX platform maintained by the FTX entities was really 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 YBAs and loans to pay old-style interest and to try to maintain the appearance of liquidity,” he also says, going to the broader point.
And this is where it could get sticky for the celebrities who have lent their name and likeness to FTX.
“It is important to note that although defendants disclosed their partnerships with the FTX entities, they never disclosed the nature, scope and amount of the compensation they personally received in exchange for promoting the deceptive platform FTX, which the SEC has explained that failure to disclose such information would constitute a violation of anti-soliciting provisions of federal securities laws,” the extensive filing notes. “Furthermore, none of these defendants performed due diligence before marketing these FTX products to the public.”
Valued at more than $32 billion earlier this year, Bahamas-based FTX and its cousin, crypto trader Alameda Research, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week. The severe crash of the world’s third-largest crypto exchange came as Bankman-Fried and other executives failed to attract more investors to help starve billions and billions in losses due to doubts over the company’s business model and asset management. It also probably didn’t help that FTX was being questioned by the FTC, DOJ and others for moving investors’ money without permission.
Citing recent rulings and fines against Kim Kardashian and ex-Boston Celtic Paul Pierce for failure to disclose endorsement compensation, the suit seeks unspecified actual, direct and compensatory damages that could be as high as nine figures and beyond depending on the consumer base. FTX pulled from.
Undoubtedly, all the big names will hire great lawyers to help them out here. However, they may have to wade through the old Rolodex a little more than usual, as famed attorney David Boies is actually helping represent Garrison in this action. However, in the meantime, check out this Larry David commercial that everyone found so amusing during the 2022 Super Bowl:
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