Disgraced Democratic mega-donor Sam Bankman-Fried agrees to flip on Tom Brady and other celebrity FTX promoters



Middle-aged NFL legend Tom Brady recently hinted at the possibility that he might stage a Michael Jordan-style comeback. He just might have to in order to stay whole thanks to disgraced Democratic mega-donor Sam Bankman-Fried's latest act of betrayal.

Bankman-Fried, the convicted fraudster whose mom figures is too autistic for prison, has apparently agreed to cooperate with the group of cryptocurrency users suing various FTX influencers, including Brady and his ex-wife.

Background

Blaze News previously reported that Tom Brady and his former spouse, Gisele Bündchen, were named in a class-action lawsuit filed in Miami's Southern District of Florida federal court in November 2022, along with former NBA star Shaquille O'Neal, Golden State Warriors basketballer Stephen Curry, Los Angeles Angels baseballer Shohei Ohtani, "Shark Tank's" Kevin O'Leary, and "Seinfeld" cocreator Larry David.

The class-action complaint launched months after the collapse of the crypto exchange company FTX alleges that Brady and the other brand ambassadors were responsible for "misrepresentations and omissions" in the advertisements in which they told acquaintances to unwittingly throw their money away into "the FTX Ponzi scheme."

Brady and Bündchen each took an equity stake in FTX as part of a 2021 ambassadorial partnership. While Brady became a brand ambassador, Bündchen took on the role of FTX's environmental and social initiatives advisor. The former couple appeared in a series of FTX commercials.

Curry similarly got into bed with the ill-fated company, signing on to a "long-term partnership" with FTX in September 2021 in exchange for a now-worthless equity stake. In one advertisement, Curry said, "With FTX, I have everything I need to buy, sell, and trade crypto safely."

Larry David was featured in a Super Bowl commercial for FTX where he played a number of characters rejecting historically consequential ideas, such as the light bulb. The advertisement ultimately showed David reject FTX, then suggested, "Don't be like Larry."

This FTX Super Bowl ad with Larry David ran FTX $1.13B\n\nthe irony of it\u2026 an arrest scene, Larry David saying he doesn\u2019t believe in Crypto, a ton of foreshadowing as @SBF_FTX is on trial\u2026 \n\nThe \u201cdon\u2019t be be like Larry David\u201d line after FTX lost billions of customer funds lol
— (@)

While O'Neal managed to avoid being served in the lawsuit for several months, last April he became the last of the celebrities to be served a legal notice.

No honor among FTX alumni

An April 19 court filing indicates the plaintiffs in the case have reached a settlement with Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison last month for his orchestration of multiple fraudulent schemes and ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture, reported Cointelegraph.

The fraudster will cooperate with the investors, and, in exchange, they will drop their civil liabilities against him.

The filing states, "[Bankman-Fried] has knowledge and other information that Class Representatives and Class Counsel believe will be valuable to Class Representatives' cases against other defendants in the FTX MDL [multidistrict litigation], particularly relating to the underlying actions and their connection to Miami, Florida, where FTX's U.S. headquarters were based, as well as each MDL Defendants' knowledge of and assistance with the actions and connections to other states in which jurisdictions over those Defendants is asserted."

Should the court approve the deal, Bankman-Fried would fork over non-privileged documents concerning his assets and his investment in the AI start-up Anthropic, proof of a negative net worth, and documents about the FTX brand ambassadors, reported the Daily Mail.

The Democratic mega-donor also apparently agreed to surrender any information he has about venture capital firms that invested in FTX as well as any accountants or lawyers who worked with the defunct crypto exchange.

CoinDesk reported that the fraudster's former friends and codefendants Caroline Ellison, Nishad Singh, and Gary Wang, have — along with FTX lawyer Dan Friedberg — made similar settlement agreements with the class-action plaintiff's attorneys.

A number of middling talents who promoted FTX, including Jaspreet Singh, Tom Nash, Jeremy Lefebvre, and Graham Stephan, have apparently also settled, as has Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

While flipping on his former celebrity boosters, Bankman-Fried appears to be trying to dodge accountability for his crimes. Earlier this month, the former multibillionaire appealed his fraud convictions and prison sentence.

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​'One of the biggest financial frauds in American history': Sam Bankman-Fried faces up to 115 years in prison​



The financial trial of the decade reached its conclusion and resulted in infamous FTX cryptocurrency trading platform founder Sam Bankman-Fried being found guilty of fraud.

At 31 years old, Bankman-Fried was found guilty on all seven fraud charges laid against him: two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, and conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

Bankman-Fried faces up to 115 years in prison after weeks of testimony from former colleagues and founders and even his ex-girlfriend, who helped him run sister hedge fund Alameda Research.

The onetime mogul was described as portraying himself as an overworked genius who slept when he could and drove a modest car. He noted that a lot of people "got hurt" and he made some "larger mistakes" but denied committing fraud, the Daily Mail reported.

Cross-examination

Cross-examination is reportedly where Bankman-Fried lost his ability to act aloof and allegedly attempted to dodge questions while tripping over the inconsistency of his answers.

Prosecutor Nicolas Roos' closing statements to the jury said that Bankman-Fried "thought he was smarter and better'" and said that he spent customers' money and lied.

"The answer is clear: He took the money; he knew it was wrong. He did it because he thought he was smarter and better and could walk his way and talk his way out of it. But today, with you, that ends."

"He didn't have to testify in this trial. He told a story, and he lied to you," Roos continued.

Bankman-Fried was said to be clear and coherent when talking about the offices of Alameda or the reasoning behind sponsorship deals but "a completely different person under cross-examination."

Unable to "remember a single detail about his companies," Bankman-Fried was apparently unable to recall details over 140 times.

Aftermath

Bankman-Fried was described as looking shell-shocked in court, with his mother and father present to hear the verdict. His parents, both Harvard Law professors, reportedly hugged as the verdict was read out. His father then held his head in his hands while his mother plugged her ears, not to hear what the judge was saying.

Mark S. Cohen, Bankman-Fried's attorney, stated that the FTX founder maintained that he's innocent.

"We respect the jury's decision. But we are very disappointed with the result," Cohen said in the statement. "Mr. Bankman Fried maintains his innocence and will continue to vigorously fight the charges against him."

STATEMENT FROM THE TEAM OF SAM BANKMAN-FRIED \u2014\n\n\u201cWe respect the jury\u2019s decision. But we are very disappointed with the result. Mr. Bankman Fried maintains his innocence and will continue to vigorously fight the charges against him."
— (@)

Bankman-Fried's sentencing is set for March 28, 2024.

The FTX saga may finally end with an impressive scoreboard after the embezzlement of $10 billion in customer deposits: $1.13 billion in endorsement deals, an alleged $1 billion in assets in China, $70 million to election campaigns, and $40 million to politicians and committees.

Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, later said Bankman-Fried "perpetuated one of the biggest financial frauds in American history."

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FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty on seven counts.

FTX, a once-vaunted cryptocurrency exchange, collapsed last year, wreaking havoc in the crypto industry.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office Southern District of New York, the 31-year-old Bankman-Fried "was convicted of two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering" and also "convicted of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud."

The convicted crypto figure's sentencing is scheduled for March 28, reports indicate.

Mark S. Cohen, counsel to Bankman-Fried, said in a statement that Bankman-Fried continues to assert that he is innocent.

"We respect the jury's decision. But we are very disappointed with the result," Cohen said in the statement. "Mr. Bankman Fried maintains his innocence and will continue to vigorously fight the charges against him."

— (@)

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said that Bankman-Fried had carried out one of the largest "financial frauds in American history. A multi-billion dollar scheme," intended to make Bankman-Fried "the king of crypto," Williams said.

— (@)

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Sam Bankman-Fried admits he donated to Dems because he wanted to shape public policy to favor FTX



Cryptocurrency exchange mogul Sam Bankman-Fried testified in front of a judge and jury and provided reasoning for extremely expensive sponsorship deals his company FTX dished out, along with blaming legal advice for poor business decisions.

After weeks of testimony from colleagues and co-founders that identified Bankman-Fried as the wrongdoer in chief, the FTX founder was finally able to address some of the accusations against him in court.

The founder was the only witness called by the defense, but was reportedly reprimanded by the judge on multiple occasions for rambling on, the Washington Post reported. Bankman-Fried was reportedly told to stop talking by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who even rephrased the prosecution's words to force direct answers from the accused.

Bankman-Fried was also lectured for trying to give his own definition of market manipulation, to which the judge said that "you will take what I say manipulation means."

The same judge did not allow Bankman-Fried and his team to use their predominant reasoning behind his decisions as their defense. Bankman-Fried wanted to say that he had relied on the advice of lawyers for crucial business decisions, but the judge declared that it would be “confusing and prejudicial" if used as testimony.

That defense was limited to FTX’s document retention policies, the Washington Post noted.

Sponsorships handed out by FTX that were revealed in previous court proceedings included $150 million to become the "official cryptocurrency exchange brand" of Major League Baseball, $50 million to NFL legend Tom Brady, $28.5 million to NBA star Steph Curry, and $10 million to "Seinfeld" creator Larry David.

Among them was a $205 million price tag for the naming rights to Miami's then-FTX Arena. Bankman-Fried justified this deal because he "didn’t want to be known as the Kansas City Royals of crypto exchanges,” and therefore the sponsorship in Miami carried a desired degree of name recognition.

He also justified political donations, with his stated goal being to shape regulations so that FTX could eventually offer futures trading in the United States.

Many of Bankman-Fried's reported answers contradicted the testimonies of his colleagues, which labeled him the foremost decision-maker, including ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison, who claimed he was still calling the shots at the company's hedge fund Alameda Research even when she was the CEO.

In total, FTX shelled out $1.13 billion in endorsement deals.

According to Time, more than $70 million was donated to election campaigns, along with another $40 million to politicians and committees ahead of the 2022 midterms. This included $5.2 million to President Biden's campaign in 2020, which immediately shot Bankman-Fried to near the top of the donor list

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