FTX co-founder and ex-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and several paid celebrities have been sued by US crypto investors for promoting fraudulent yield-bearing accounts of the now defunct crypto derivative platform, media reports said.
The class-action suit filed in Miami on Tuesday has accused NFL quarterback Tom Brady, comedian Larry David, tennis player Naomi Osaka and NBA team Golden State Warriors for promoting FTX yield-bearing account (YBAs) and duping investors.
FTX YBA holder Edwin Garrison from Oklahoma filed the lawsuit on behalf of other investors. Garrison’s lawyers included famed attorney David Boies, Florida-based Adam Moskowitz, Coral Gables, and Miami-based Stephen Neal Zack.
The plaintiffs in the complaint called the FTX platform deceptive like a Ponzi scheme where FTX entities “shuffled customer funds between opaque affiliated entities, using new investor funds through investments in the YBAs and loans to pay interest to the old ones and maintained the appearance of liquidity.”
The complaint sought unspecified damages and a jury trial in the case.
The lawsuit also identifies Larry David as a “legendary comedian” who appeared in an FTX ad “Don’t Miss Out on Crypto” aired during the 2022 Super Bowl.
In the infamous Super Bowl ad, Larry David urges people to invest in crypto currency exchange FTX, and says, “I’m never wrong about this stuff, never.”
The lawsuit also mentioned a 2021 ad that had Tom Brady and his wife Bündchen in an ad titled “FTX. You In?” encouraging people and their acquaintances to join the now bankrupt Crypto platform FTX.
