Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) and a number of celebrities including Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen, Stephen Curry, and Shaquille O’Neal have been named in a class-action lawsuit involving the alleged engagement in deceptive practices with FTX. The lawsuit was filed by the attorneys Adam Moskowitz and David Boies late Tuesday, and the suit alleges that SBF and the exchange’s associated celebrities promoted unregistered securities.
Class action lawsuit accuses SBF and 12 celebrities of running ‘Ponzi scheme’, claims damages of $11 billion
Sam Bankman-Fried, otherwise known as SBF, and 12 other defendants, including NBA team Golden State Warriors LLC, have been named in a class-action lawsuit filed by Moskovitz and Boise on behalf of Oklahoma resident Edwin Garrison.
In addition to the NBA franchise, celebrities and well known individuals such as Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen, William Trevor Lawrence, Kevin O’Leary, Naomi Osaka, David Ortiz, Stephen Curry, Udonis Haslem, Shaquille O’Neal, Shohei Ohtani, and Lawrence Gene David are also defendants.
“FTX’s fraudulent scheme was designed to take advantage of unsophisticated investors across the country who use mobile apps to make their investments,” Garrison’s complaint, filed Tuesday, states. “As a result, American consumers collectively suffered more than $11 billion dollars in damages.”
Moreover, the lawsuit also says that SBF’s operation was no more than a “Ponzi scheme” and celebrities “actively participated” in its promotion, Garrison’s complaint insists. Additionally, the filing also notes that emails and texts between the defendants were decimated but the lawfirm was able to obtain the evidence. The complaint notes:
Although many of the offending FTX emails and texts have already been destroyed, we have located them.
Garrison’s court case Garrison v. Bankman-Fried, 22-cv-23753, was filed in the Southern District of Florida. Garrison’s lawsuit claims the actions of the celebrities, FTX, and SBF hurt “thousands, if not millions, of consumers nationwide.” The 13 defendants in Garrison’s lawsuit are accused of participating in the “offer and sale of unregistered securities in the form of yield-bearing accounts.”
