Celebrities who once endorsed the cryptocurrency platform FTX have remained notably quiet since its disgraced founder was arrested Monday.
A-listers including Tom Brady and his now ex-wife Gisele Bündchen, Shaquille O’Neal and Larry David have appeared in advertisements endorsing the cryptocurrency exchange and expressing their faith in Sam Bankman-Fried.
But they have not released any statements since the former billionaire, 30, was detained in the Bahamas — where he has been hiding since his $32 billion empire came crashing down last month – and he is now facing criminal charges in the US.
American prosecutors have filed the unspecified charges against the FTX founder, and are ‘likely to request his extradition,’ almost one month to the day from when his company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced former CEO of FTX, has been arrested in the Bahamas
In the meantime, Bankman-Fried is being held in custody.
In a statement, Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis said: ‘The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law.
‘While the United States is pursuing criminal charges against SBF individually, the Bahamas will continue its own regulatory and criminal investigations into the collapse of FTX, with the continued cooperation of its law enforcement and regulatory partners in the United States and elsewhere.’
Just before 7pm Eastern Standard Time, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams also released a statement on Bankman-Fried’s arrest.
‘Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the US Government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY,’ Williams wrote.
Tom Brady and now ex-wife Gisele Bündchen appeared in an FTX commercial last year. They’re named in a class action lawsuit which alleges the firm’s collapse has cost consumers $11 billion
Brady was filmed at home calling around his friends to sign them up with FTX. The company marketed the ad campaign with the slogan: ‘Tom Brady is in. Are you?’
Basketball stars Shaquille O’Neal, left, and Steph Curry, right, also did commercials endorsing FTX before its stunning collapse last month. None of these celebrities have said anything about the matter, even after Bankman-Fried was arrested
‘We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time,’ the attorney continued.
The news of the FTX CEO’s arrest comes just hours before he was set to testify in front of the House Financial Services Committee over the $32 billion collapse of FTX.
He was scheduled to appear virtually due to his ‘overbooked’ schedule, DailyMail.com reported before Bahamian officials announced the arrest of the disgraced CEO.
Members of the House Financial Services Committee were planning to speak with him about the collapse of the digital currency.
While he confirmed last week he would in fact talk with members of Congress, he said during a recent Twitter Space he was concerned about paparazzi in Washington, D.C.
It is now unclear if the testimony will take place and when.
US Attorney Damian Williams said Monday night the indictment will be unsealed Tuesday
Bankman-Fried was scheduled to speak in front of Congress Tuesday morning on the multi-billion dollar collapse of FTX
It is now unclear if the testimony will take place and when
This is the statement issued by the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York late Monday evening regarding the arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried
On Friday, Bloomberg News reported that Justice Department officials were analyzing the alleged transfer of millions of dollars from right around the time when FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The outlet reported that prosecutors had met to discuss a potential fraud case against the former CEO and several other high-ranking employees for the business.
Assistant US Attorney Nicolas Roos, Justice Department officials from Washington, D.C., agents from the FBI, and lawyers for FTX from Sullivan & Cromwel were also present during the meeting.
The group met for ‘about two hours’ to discuss FTX’s collapse but did not discuss potential charges, according to Bloomberg.
The New York Times late Monday evening corroborated the concerns over payments made using customers’ fund in the U.S. to Alameda Research, a crypto hedge fund also owned by Bankman-Fried. The exact charges remain a mystery.
The exact charges brought against the disgraced ‘Crypto King’ are unknown at this time
Bankman-Fried, who had stated he would speak to Congress from his residence in the Bahamas, had previously played down the idea he was avoiding entering the U.S. by appearing virtually in front of lawmakers.
‘It’s also frankly pretty important time for me to be here. I’m quite overbooked and was not planning to be testifying until like very recently,’ he told interviewers from the Unusual Whales platform recently.
‘And then the other thing that I will say is … from a security standpoint … It’s very difficult for me to move right now and travel because just like the paparazzi effect is quite large.’
Bankman-Fried also was asked if he feared being detained, to which he replied: ‘I don’t believe I would be but I haven’t done a deep dive into that.’
FTX CEO John J. Ray III, the insolvency expert and lawyer for the company, was also slated to testify Tuesday.
DailyMail.com photos taken recently show disgraced FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried looking stressed on the balcony of his $40million penthouse in the Bahamas
The 7,500 sqft penthouse at the Albany club where he was staying boasts five bedrooms and 7.5 bathrooms
The photos taken in late November were the first public sighting of the disgraced crypto official since the collapse of his multi-billion dollar empire
Bankman-Fried had also stated he would be ‘open and willing’ to possibly appearing on Wednesday before the Senate Banking Committee, however that appeared to be fodder.
In a joint statement, Senate Banking Chair Sen. Sherrod Brown, (D-OH) and Sen. Pat Toomey, (R-PA), recently said they ‘offered Sam Bankman-Fried two different dates for providing testimony before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and are willing to accommodate virtual testimony.’
‘He has declined in an unprecedented abdication of accountability,’ the senators said regarding a Wednesday hearing.
Bankman-Fried said in one tweet that although he was considering speaking with the banking officials Wednesday, his testimony ‘won’t be as helpful’ as he and others may hope.
The lawyers for the fallen ‘Crypto King’ also said previously they would not accept service of a subpoena to have him give testimony in Washington, D.C.
‘Given that Bankman-Fried’s counsel has stated they are unwilling to accept service of a subpoena, we will continue to work to have him appear before the Committee. He owes the American people an explanation,’ Sen. Brown and Sen. Toomey said.
House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters (D-CA) also was among the lawmakers pushing for the ‘Crypto King’ to attend the congressional hearing.
Waters said last week Bankman-Fried had ‘sufficient’ information to give testimony.
The former CEO has been accused of manipulating the market for several cryptocurrencies, leading to their collapse.
Bankman-Fried, however, has maintained he has nothing to tell lawmakers: ‘There’s no evidence, because it didn’t happen.’
Bankman-Field’s legal counsel had previously stated they would not accept service of a subpoena to have him give testimony in Washington, D.C.
Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried is also facing a civil lawsuit from investors and FTX customers.
Bankman-Fried hired high-profile white collar defense attorney Mark S. Cohen to represent him in his legal issues
The class action suit, filed by class action attorney Adam Moskowitz in the US District Court’s Southern District of Florida, claims the ex-billionaire and the celebrities he recruited to endorse the firm are responsible for around $11 billion of losses to American consumers.
The list of names in the filing includes: ‘Sam Bankman-Fried, Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen, Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors, Shaquille O’Neal, Udonis Haslem, David Ortiz, William Trevor Lawrence, Shohei Ohtani, Naomi Osaka, Lawrence Gene David, and Kevin O’Leary.’
They are described in the 41-page lawsuit as ‘parties who either controlled, promoted, assisted in, and actively participated in’ FTX’s operations, allegedly in breach of Florida law.
It adds: ‘The Deceptive and failed FTX Platform was based upon false representations and deceptive conduct.
‘Although many incriminating FTX emails and texts have already been destroyed, we located them and they evidence how FTX’s fraudulent scheme was designed to take advantage of unsophisticated investors from across the country, who utilize mobile apps to make their investments.
‘As a result, American consumers collectively sustained over $11 billion dollars in damages.’
Bankman-Fried has since hired high-profile white collar defense attorney Mark S. Cohen to represent him in these legal matters, as his father, a law professor at Stanford University canceled his upcoming classes.
