By CultureBanx Team
- Shaquille O’Neal and Steph Curry along with other investors have been named in an $11B lawsuit following the bankruptcy filing from crypto exchange FTX
- In January, FTX had raised $400M in a Series C funding round, valuing the company at $32B
The $32 billion collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX has caught a couple of current and former athletes in its crosshairs. Shaquille O’Neal, Steph Curry, Tom Brady and others investors have been named in an $11 billion lawsuit following the bankruptcy filing from FTX. This begs the question; should these sports celebrities who brought instant credibility to FTX, be held just as culpable as the company’s itself?
Why This Matters: Back in January, FTX had raised $400 million in a Series C funding round, valuing the company at $32 billion. Clearly, things have shifted quickly with the platforms collapse and litany of litigations.This lawsuit is claiming that the athletes celebrity status made them culpable for promoting the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, FTX’s, failed business model. Its commercials featured Brady, the star quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, former basketball players Shaquille O’Neal, current NBA All-Star Stephen Curry, and tennis player Naomi Osaka.
“Part of the scheme employed by the FTX Entities involved utilizing some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment—like these Defendants—to raise funds and drive American consumers to invest … pouring billions of dollars into the deceptive FTX platform to keep the whole scheme afloat,” the lawsuit said.
Class-action attorney Adam Moskowitz pointed to previous cases where the U.S. government fined celebrities Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather for promoting crypto.
What’s Next: NBA Player Udonis Haslem along with the Golden State Warriors were also included in the lawsuit. The House Financial Services Committee said it plans to hold a hearing on FTX in December.
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