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☆ Take FTX's name off the Miami Heat's arena, the crypto exchange's bankruptcy judge orders in ending a $135 million sponsorship deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

FTX's bankruptcy judge has terminated its $135 million deal to sponsor the Miami Heat's home arena. Miami-Dade County has been trying to get out of the deal since the crypto exchange failed in November. In March 2021, FTX and Miami-Dade agreed a deal to award the crypto exchange the naming rights to the Heat's home arena for the next two years. But the crypto exchange filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November after suffering a major liquidity crisis that wiped out around $8 billion in customer funds. Read more: FTX bankruptcy documents show list of investors set to be completely wiped out, including Tom Brady and Robert Kraft

The U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission has estimated missing customer funds at more than $8 billion. The affiliates -- LedgerX, Embed, FTX Japan and FTX Europe -- are relatively independent from the broader FTX group, and each has its own segregated customer accounts and separate management teams, according to FTX court filings. In part to preserve the value of its businesses, FTX also sought Dorsey's approval to keep secret 9 million FTX customer names. Dorsey allowed the names to remain under wraps for only three months, not six months as FTX wanted. In addition to customer funds lost, the collapse of the company has also likely wiped out equity investors.

☆ FTX lawyers have recovered $5 billion in assets
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —FTX officials overseeing its bankruptcy have recovered more than $5 billion in cash and other liquid assets that may be used to help repay creditors, a lawyer for the failed crypto firm said during a bankruptcy court hearing Wednesday. That disclosure significantly raises the estimated amount of funds FTX claims to hold. Last month, FTX lawyers submitted filings that showed the company and its affiliates had a total of $1.2 billion in cash. The lawyers also said they had identified more than 9 million creditors — far more than earlier estimates of around 1 million. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrives pleaded not guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges in Manhattan on January 3.

☆ FTX's venture backers included Patriots owner Robert Kraft and billionaire Paul Tudor Jones, new filings show
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The roster of high-profile investors who lost money betting on crypto exchange FTX also included New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones, according to court filings released late Monday. FTX's venture investors included a host of luminaries. Dan Loeb controlled over 6.1 million preferred shares through Third Point-connected venture funds. Rival exchange Coinbase held nearly 1.3 million preferred shares. CNBC has compiled and analyzed the following preferred share ownership using Delaware bankruptcy court filings.

☆ FTX bankruptcy documents show list of investors set to be completely wiped out, including Tom Brady and Robert Kraft
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Matthew Fox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

FTX released a list of its equity holders on Monday as it continues to navigate the bankruptcy process. Some of the top holders of FTX equity included in the list are Tom Brady, Robert Kraft, and Gisele Bündchen. The FTX shares owned by Brady, Kraft, and Bündchen are expected to be worthless. Billionaire Robert Kraft, who owns the New England Patriots football team, was also listed in the FTX bankruptcy document. Other investors on FTX's equity-holder list include Wall Street's elite hedge funds and growth investors, according to the bankruptcy document.

☆ Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen’s FTX stake will probably get wiped out
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Brady owns 1.1 million common shares of FTX, while Bundchen owns 686,000 shares, according to bankrupcty court documents filed Monday. Whatever Brady and Bundchen paid for their stakes, they, along with hundreds of other investors, will almost certainly see their positions completely wiped out. When companies go bankrupt, stockholders are typically the last in line to recover any funds. Soon after FTX’s collapse, a customer filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, along with Brady, Bundchen and several other celebrity backers. Federal prosecutors accuse the 30-year-old entrepreneur, once a celebrity in crypto circles, of stealing customer funds from FTX to cover outsize losses at his hedge fund, Alameda.

☆ The ultimate insider's guide to the dramatic downfall of Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, and FTX
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Sam Bankman-Fried is facing criminal charges and is expected to enter a plea on Jan. 3. Read Insider's coverage of Bankman-Fried:FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried gets by on 4 hours' sleep and multitasks on 6 screens. Now hit with 7 criminal charges, Ellison has pleaded guilty and expressed contrition before the New York federal court presiding over the criminal cases involving Bankman-Fried. Sam Bankman-Fried is in jail, but legal watchers are wondering: Where's ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison? Sam Bankman-Fried hit with 8 criminal charges, including fraud and conspiracy for allegedly 'misappropriating' FTX customer fundsThe SEC has charged Sam Bankman-Fried and accused him of 'orchestrating a massive, years-long fraud'The criminal charges against Sam Bankman-Fried carry big penalties and jail time if proven, legal experts sayRead the CFTC complaint against FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried and his associates Caroline Ellison and Gary WangThe charges against Caroline Ellison, SBF, and FTX cofounder Gary Wang — in 60 seconds

☆ Tom Brady's NFT company, Autograph, has laid off dozens of people after severing ties with board member Sam Bankman-Fried
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tom Brady cofounded Autograph at the height of the NFT sports boom. Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried joined the board of the company last year. Insider has learned the company has laid off dozens of employee and cut ties with Bankman-Fried. Autograph, the buzzy NFT platform cofounded by NFL star Tom Brady, has laid off dozens of staffers after separately severing ties with former board member Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of FTX, Insider has learned. Bankman-Fried joined the board of directors last year several months after Brady and his then wife, Gisele Bundchen, invested in FTX.

☆ Donald Trump's superhero trading cards timed the market all wrong
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Jon Sarlin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Los Angeles CNN —Donald Trump’s entrance into the NFT world came at the worst possible moment. It bears noting, however, that despite the bad timing Trump’s NFT collection has shot to the top of NFT marketplace OpenSea’s ranking and has raked in more than $1.4 million since its launch. On the Trump Digital Trading Cards website, the Trump collection claims to be “sold out” and the floor price for a single card has risen to $177.99, according to analytics site CoinGecko. SPACs boomed in 2020 with celebrities and investors piling in, but rising interest rates and a troubled stock market has led to a dramatic fall in SPAC value. Trump’s entrance into the SPAC world came after the boom.

☆ Shaq — who starred in an FTX commercial in June — says he 'was just a paid spokesperson' for the exchange and doesn't believe in crypto
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Shaquille O'Neal said he was paid to appear in an FTX ad and was never involved in the firm. "A lot of people think I'm involved, but I was just a paid spokesperson for a commercial," O'Neal told the outlet. The former basketball star, who's now an angel investor and businessman, starred in an FTX commercial released on June 2. In the ad, O'Neal said he was excited to partner with the exchange to "make crypto accessible to everyone." The NBA hall of fame member did not disclose how much money he received for appearing in the June FTX commercial.

☆ Boies law firm makes odd moves in FTX case against Tom Brady, celebs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Alison Frankel | Thomson Reuters | Alison Frankel Has Covered High-Stakes Commercial Litigation As A Columnist For Reuters Since A Dartmouth College Graduate | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

That was apparently not what the Boies and Moskowitz firms were hoping. In mid-November, the firms filed the first of their three FTX lawsuits in federal court. On Nov. 21, the Boies and Moskowitz firms filed a second FTX class action, this time on behalf of non-U.S. FTX customers. The day after Bloom’s assignment to the case, the Moskowitz and Boies firms voluntarily dismissed the two previously-filed FTX class actions before Moore and Gayles. “As we got more cases, we filed more cases,” Moskowitz said.

☆ Why Tom Brady, David Ortiz, Jimmy Fallon and other celebrities are getting sued over crypto
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Tom Brady, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and baseball Hall-of-Famer David Ortiz are just some of the big names facing lawsuits from investors as the crypto world crumbles in the wake of FTX’s fall from grace. The backlash started earlier this month, when a class-action suit was filed against celebrities, including Jimmy Fallon, Justin Bieber and Serena Williams for promoting Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. None of the celebrities named in the lawsuits immediately responded to requests from CNN for comment. Investors in FTX are not expected to be able to recover their money, the company’s CEO testified on Capitol Hill Tuesday. And after the crypto market bust and a round of lawsuits, celebrities may think twice about what they endorse in the future, too.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried is reportedly such a huge Taylor Swift fan that he pushed for FTX to sponsor her tour in a $100 million deal that almost happened
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sam Bankman-Fried wanted his now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange to sponsor a Taylor Swift tour. FTX was close to negotiating an over $100 million deal, but talks between teams ended in the spring. Part of the sponsorship deal included offering tickets as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, from Swift, people familiar with the matter told the FT. "The discussion was around a potential tour sponsorship that did not happen." While scrapping the deal proved to be good karma for Swift, Bankman-Fried is continuing his run as the crypto-world's largest anti-hero at the moment.

Three people close to FTX and Bankman-Fried told CNBC that the former CEO lobbied aggressively for a partnership with 11-time Grammy Award winner Taylor Swift. Bankman-Fried's commitment to getting the Swift deal done despite the deteriorating business environment fit a pattern of ignoring his lieutenants and going it alone, a half-dozen former company insiders and business partners said. The Financial Times reported earlier that FTX held talks with Swift about a potential sponsorship. Part of the Swift deal would have included the production by the singer of a collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), or digital items that can rise and fall in value. Beyond that, there was a lack of clarity over what Swift would be doing for the company, sources said.

☆ Singapore's monetary authority defends its treatment of Binance after FTX 'debacle'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

“While both Binance and FTX are not licensed here, there is a clear difference between the two: Binance was actively soliciting users in Singapore while FTX was not,” the MAS said. “With regard to FTX, there was no evidence that it was soliciting Singapore users specifically.”Regulators are expected to step up their oversight of the industry as a result of its worst-ever turmoil. Unlike other industry players, Binance has emerged relatively unscathed during what some are calling a “crypto winter,” which refers to the sector’s ongoing global liquidity crisis. FTX, by comparison, recently filed for bankruptcy after failing to secure a lifeline from Binance over its own money troubles. In recent weeks, investor Sequoia Capital and Singapore’s state-owned investment firm, Temasek, have each written down the value of their respective FTX stakes down to $0.

Two years later, Bautista and hundreds of thousands of other FTX customers are in limbo, shocked and unsure what happens next. FTX has paused customer withdrawals, and there’s growing doubt that customers will be able to recover any of their assets. “It’s lost at this point.”Bautista, 34, got the FTX itch thanks in part to flashy advertising. FTX, boosted by celebrities like NFL giant Tom Brady and pumped up by Silicon Valley bigwigs, struck Bautista as the most reliable crypto platform on the market. The firm has started the process of filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Bankman-Fried has resigned — and Bautista lost access to his crypto portfolio.

☆ Singapore's Temasek writes down $275 million in FTX, calls belief in Sam Bankman-Fried 'misplaced'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Diksha Madhok | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New Delhi CNN Business —Singapore has become the latest backer of crypto exchange FTX to admit being burned by its spectacular collapse. FTX Group abruptly filed for bankruptcy in the United States last Friday when its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, resigned as CEO. This “write down of our investment in FTX will not have significant impact on our overall performance,” Temasek said in the statement. Last week, investor Sequoia Capital said it had marked the value of its FTX stake down to $0. Last week, crypto lending platform BlockFi said it was pausing customer withdrawals.

☆ Elizabeth Warren demands Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX turn over trove of records
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Elizabeth Warren and Dick Durbin are demanding FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried hand over a trove of documents that will shed light on the extraordinary and swift downfall of his crypto exchange. “Billions of dollars worth of investor funds seem to have disappeared into the ether,” Warren and Durbin wrote. The committee said it expects to hear from the companies and individuals involved, including Bankman-Fried. That Reuters report said Bankman-Fried used this “backdoor” to transfer $10 billion in FTX customer funds to Alameda, the hedge fund, and at least $1 billion is now missing. Warren and Durbin ask in their letter if Bankman-Fried did in fact use a “backdoor” to transfer FTX customer funds and, if so, who else knew about it.

☆ Tom Brady, Larry David and other celebrities named in FTX lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Minyvonne Burke | Minyvonne Burke Is A Senior Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

A class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges that the crypto platform FTX and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried violated Florida law, misled customers and cost investors billions of dollars in damages. Garrison says he lost money after the crypto exchange was forced to stop customers from withdrawing funds. The suit blames Bankman-Fried and the bevy of celebrities who promoted the company for the losses suffered by the investors. Also named in the lawsuit is Larry David, the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star who appeared in a Super Bowl commercial for FTX. Larry David stars in a Super Bowl commercial for the cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

☆ Special Report: FTX's Bankman-Fried begged for a rescue even as he revealed huge holes in firm's books
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Angus Berwick Anirban Sen Elizabeth Howcroft Lawrence Delevingne | Angus Berwick | Anirban Sen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +22 min

Sequoia was shocked at the amount of money Bankman-Fried needed to save FTX, according to the sources, while Apollo first asked for more information, only to later decline. The booklet flagged the risks of crypto trading, particularly how sudden sales of tokens could trigger a "domino effect" that would lead to a "cascading set of liquidity failures." Using profits from Alameda, Bankman-Fried launched FTX in 2019. From almost nothing in 2019, FTX handled about 10% of global crypto trading this year, a September document shows. At one point, he lived in a penthouse overlooking the Caribbean, valued at almost $40 million, according to two people who worked with FTX.

☆ Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen named in lawsuit against FTX
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Genesis said it was working with advisers “to explore all possible options,” adding that it would release a plan for the lending business next week. “We’re working tirelessly to identify the best solutions for the lending business, including among other things, sourcing new liquidity,” the company said. The suspension comes as the entire crypto industry is on edge following the unraveling of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange and Alameda Research hedge fund, both of which filed for bankruptcy late last week. On Wednesday an FTX investor sued Bankman-Fried as well as several celebrities who have endorsed the platform, including Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen and Steph Curry. “The deceptive FTX platform maintained by the FTX entities was truly a house of cards,” the proposed class-action lawsuit states.

☆ Star quarterback and FTX investor Tom Brady just changed his Twitter profile photo from the Bitcoin laser eyes meme, signaling the end of an era for crypto
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Tom Brady just signaled the end of an era for crypto with a quiet change of his Twitter profile photo. Brady switched his profile photo from the "laser eyes" meme, which symbolized bullishness in Bitcoin. Social media profiles with "laser eyes" grew in popularity among cryptocurrency believers last year as a way for them to symbolically show bullishness in crypto, particularly in Bitcoin. Bitcoin is currently trading at $16,000, its lowest level in two years, and most original laser eye photos have now disappeared from Twitter. Brady was one of the final holdouts with a "laser eyes" photo; many noteworthy people quietly switched away from the meme as cryptocurrency prices crashed this year.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried's sudden turn from white knight to washout
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( Hannah Lang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

But as traders rushed to withdraw funds from FTX, Bankman-Fried was in denial and told investors he was convinced the business would be rescued, according to a source familiar with the situation. Bankman-Fried also quickly became one of the largest Democratic donors in the United States, contributing $5.2 million to President Joe Biden's 2020 campaign. He amassed a fortune, estimated as high as $26.5 billion by Forbes a year ago, by taking advantage of the price differences in bitcoin in Asia and the United States. Bankman-Fried eventually started crypto trading firm Alameda Research in 2017 and founded FTX a year later. "I thought we would fail," Bankman-Fried said at a June conference weeks before FTX and Alameda extended lifelines to two struggling crypto platforms.

☆ The collapse of crypto firm FTX and its superstar founder explained: Here's what happened and what it all means
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Two years later, Bankman-Fried and his team launched FTX, a crypto exchange platform with perks like low trading fees and advanced options for traders. At his peak, Bankman-Fried was worth $26 billion, though his net worth had dropped to $16 billion before this week. In early November, crypto publication CoinDesk released a bombshell report that called into question just how stable Bankman-Fried's empire really was. Now, the FTX drama is creating a ripple effect throughout the crypto industry. Industry experts told Insider that the saga might encourage regulators to try to crack down on the crypto industry, or make big banks wary of letting customers trade crypto.

☆ Before his epic fall, Sam Bankman-Fried was hailed as a crypto genius. Some clients saw smoke and mirrors.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Gretchen Morgenson | Gretchen Morgenson Is The Senior Financial Reporter For The Nbc News Investigative Unit. A Former Stockbroker | She Won The Pulitzer Prize In For Her | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +14 min

Until a few days ago, Sam Bankman-Fried was the king of crypto. “I’m sorry I didn’t do better,” Bankman-Fried said Tuesday in a message to investors reviewed by NBC News. The contentions of the people who spoke with NBC News are echoed in a 2019 lawsuit brought in federal court against FTX Alameda, Bankman-Fried and other executives. But the crypto market does not have the protections or price transparency found in listed stock markets, for example. FTX and Alameda, as a major crypto exchange and market maker, attracted crypto developers to list their projects for trading.

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