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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Maxine Waters thanks FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried for being 'candid'



Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of crypto-exchange company FTX who admittedly "had a bad month," received praise on Twitter from Congresswoman Maxine Waters for his apparent dedication to transparency.

Bankman-Fried, who has recently said he was masquerading as a "woke westerner," has benefitted from an avalanche of favorable press as of late, including an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal and a public webcam event with the New York Times.

"[Sam Bankman-Fried], we appreciate that you've been candid in your discussions about what happened at #FTX," Waters stated on Twitter. "Your willingness to talk to the public will help the company's customers, investors, and others. To that end, we would welcome your participation in our hearing on the 13th."


\u201c.@SBF_FTX, we appreciate that you've been candid in your discussions about what happened at #FTX. Your willingness to talk to the public will help the company's customers, investors, and others. To that end, we would welcome your participation in our hearing on the 13th.\u201d
— Maxine Waters (@Maxine Waters) 1669993281

The statement was co-tweeted by the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, for which Waters is the spokesperson. The committee has announced a hearing regarding FTX set for December 13, 2022, saying the "urgent need for legislation has never been greater."

While it is fair to state that there is widespread skepticism about any punishment the founder will face, other crypto-currency companies such as Alameda Research and Binance are set to appear at the hearing as well.

The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee will also hold a hearing titled “Lessons Learned from the FTX Collapse" on December 1, 2022.

Bankman-Fried has received no apparent condemnation from federal authorities or regulators and at points seems genuinely confused by backlash or questioning he's received.

"When I filed, I'm fairly sure FTX US was solvent, and that all US customers could be made whole. To my knowledge, it still is today. I was expecting that to happen. I'm surprised it hasn't. I'm not sure why US withdrawals were turned off," the mogul pontificated online.


\u201cExpanding on DealBook:\n\nWhen I filed, I'm fairly sure FTX US was solvent, and that all US customers could be made whole.\n\nTo my knowledge, it still is today.\n\nI was expecting that to happen. I'm surprised it hasn't. I'm not sure why US withdrawals were turned off.\u201d
— SBF (@SBF) 1669909861

Bankman-Fried and Rep. Waters have been pictured together before, with Waters even seemingly blowing a kiss to the businessman after a congressional hearing:

\u201cThis might be the weirdest FTX news so far: \n\nMaxine Waters blew Sam Bankman-Fried a kiss after a Congressional hearing last year. \nhttps://t.co/g53eP0HnMx\u201d
— Alec Sears (@Alec Sears) 1668786193

Still operating out of the Bahamas, Bankman-Fried appears to be doing his own public relations damage control on social media, even taking time to clarify his status as a vegan. "Is SBF still vegan?" a crypto-currency account asked. "Yea, the picture going around was a joke, I'm still vegan," Bankman-Fried clarified.

\u201c@AltcoinDailyio yea the picture going around was a joke, I'm still vegan\u201d
— Altcoin Daily (@Altcoin Daily) 1669934976


Wall Street Journal gets torched over softball op-ed claiming FTX went bankrupt because supporters lost faith in its founder



A bizarre opinion article in the Wall Street Journal was torched by people online because the writer claimed that the cryptocurrency company FTX collapsed because supporters lost faith in its founder.

The article tried to tie together the fortunes of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and those of former President Donald Trump, but along the way, Allysia Finley claimed that lack of support is why FTX failed.

"Mr. Bankman-Fried may not believe in anything greater than himself any more than the former president does," Finley wrote, referring to the disgraced founder's admission that he took advantage of ESG scores to dupe liberals into supporting him.

"FTX failed because Mr. Bankman-Fried’s supporters lost confidence in him. That may be how Mr. Trump finally crashes and burns too," Finley concluded.

Apart from the strained analogy to Trump's election fraud claims, Finley was excoriated online for her odd description of the downfall of FTX.

"Democrat's second biggest donor ran a DNC money laundering operation, shared a stage with Bill Clinton, hobnobbed with everyone in the Dem Party and had a line entitled 'Trumplose' on FTX balance sheet. And WSJ wants you believe he's Trump's twin. The dumbf***ery is off the hook," read one popular response.

"What the actual F@%K is this, who is paying for these articles to make SBF look like the victim?" replied another critic.

"It's unbelievable! How can anyone not see it how @SBF_FTX is protected by some hidden forces? 'He failed because his supporters lost confidence in him.' Yes they lost confidence because he defrauded them with creating a ponzi. Did Maddof fail because of his supporters?" read another critical tweet.

"Mainstream media will continue down its path of irrelevancy when it presents information through their own political lens. SBF have a backdoor in his accounting system to steal money and he gave a lot of money to political benefactors. How is that not the headline?" responded another critic.

Bankman-Fried is under "supervision" in the Bahamas as the investigation into the collapse continues. The cryptocurrency exchange company was valued at about $32 billion before filing for bankruptcy.

Here's more about the fall of FTX:

The FTX Collapse, Explained | What Went Wrong | WSJwww.youtube.com