By Julia Tuck, Class of 2025
In a 2021 advertisement, Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and his then-wife Gisele Bundchen touted the endless potential of FTX as a way of getting into cryptocurrency (“crypto”), leaving viewers with one question: “You in?”[1] Now, two years later, these two words could cost Brady and Bundchen millions of dollars in the wake of FTX’s collapse, and a major lawsuit is on its way.[2] However, they are not the only ones facing this plight as notable FTX endorsers Kevin O’Leary, Steph Curry, and Naomi Osaka, to name just a few, have also been named as defendants in this lawsuit.[3] Nevertheless, the founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, faces perhaps the largest downfall from FTX’s failure as he looks at up to 110 years in prison after his conviction on November 2, 2023.[4]
The Origins and Rise of FTX
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (“MIT”) graduate, Sam Bankman-Fried, created FTX in 2018 as a digital trading platform for crypto.[5] The platform allowed users to trade products, such as derivatives and options, as well as volatility products and leveraged tokens.[6] FTX operated primarily in an exclusive, luxury compound of the Bahamas known as Albany.[7] Celebrities, like Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake, typically vacation in Albany, which is on the opposite side of New Providence in the Bahamas.[8] FTX’s location in the Bahamas was not unique, as this location regularly draws the attention of many start-up founders due to its “tax neutral environment.”[9]
Since the launch of FTX, the platform immediately grew in popularity garnering the interest of various investors.[10] Binance, a similar type of crypto trading company, famously invested a stake of its company in FTX in January 2022, around the time of the peak of the crypto boom.[11] FTX also gained a lot of investment from venture capitalists and at the time grew to be the second-largest crypto exchange by volume after Binance.[12] Despite FTX’s emergent success, it was not long after that it came crashing down.[13]
The Complicated FTX and Alameda Research Relationship
FTX and its fatal fall cannot be fully understood without mention of its intimate companion, Alameda Research.[14] Alameda Research was an investment firm founded by Sam Bankman-Fried in 2017.[15] Although initially started in California, it was strategically moved to Hong Kong “due to a more relaxed regulatory environment.”[16] The firm’s Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) was Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried’s romantic interest at the time, who is also now facing criminal charges.[17] Alameda Research engaged in trades that were often leveraged by loans from crypto lenders, and as such, FTX was founded to earn revenue to support the firm.[18] Sam Bankman-Fried owned ninety percent of Alameda Research and in September of 2022, the firm allegedly had $13 billion in assets.[19]
The Fall of FTX
FTX had created its own crypto token known as FTT, and soon enough, Alameda Research became “the largest buyer, seller, and holder of FTT, which inflated its price, and served as a major part of the company’s asset basis.”[20] This inflation of Alameda Research’s assets allegedly enabled the company to mislead investors and creditors about the firm’s financial position.”[21] As a consequence, many customers were blindsided by how FTX was actually faring and there was a lack of transparency about how FTX utilized investments.[22] When the crypto market took a downturn in late 2021, both FTX and Alameda were negatively affected and a multitude of investors withdrew funds from Alameda Research.[23] At this time, Bankman-Fried allegedly transferred funds from FTX to try and keep Alameda Research afloat.[24] Then, in November 2022, Binance announced it would sell its holdings of FTT and the price plummeted from $22 to under $1.50.[25] Bankman-Fried took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to claim Binance was simply “a competitor” and a rival trying to harm FTX.[26] Alameda Research faced insolvency and FTX filed for bankruptcy this same year.[27] To make matters worse, when customers tried to withdraw their money around this time, they were denied.[28]
The Current Notorious Trial of Sam Bankman-Fried
Following the collapse of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried was brought to trial in October 2023.[29] During the trial, the prosecution “call[ed] upon a number of customers of the exchange as witnesses – ranging from professional investors to regular people.”[30] The star witness against him, Caroline Ellison, testified against her former lover.[31] Ellison reportedly told Prosecutor Danielle Sassoon that she and Bankman-Fried both partook in “fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering.”[32] On November 2, 2023, Bankman-Fried was convicted of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy related to the failure of his crypto exchange platform, FTX.[33]
Conclusion
Considering the downfall of FTX and the enormous loss of money by many customers, this calls into question the trustworthiness of crypto platforms and even crypto itself. Although crypto enthusiasts assert it is an innovation of the future, the collapse of FTX appears to serve as a cautionary tale of misplaced trust and a lack of due diligence. Therefore, it seems that there was indeed some ounce of truth in Larry David’s humorous rejection of crypto in FTX’s Super Bowl advertisement in 2022.[34] Perhaps we actually should ‘be like Larry’[35] and not be tricked into putting our dollar into the unknown.
[1] Stephen Douglas, Remember That Tom Brady Crypto Ad Where He Convinced Everyone to Quit Their Jobs? That Was FTX, The Big Lead (Nov. 9, 2022), https://www.thebiglead.com/posts/tom-brady-crypto-ad-01ghea1g0z9d. [2] George Clover, Crypto lawsuit against Tom Brady, Shaquille O’Neal, and the Golden State Warriors gets the cooperation of a former FTX exec, Markets Insider (May 12, 2023, 6:26 AM), https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/tom-brady-shaquille-o-neal-golden-state-warriors-ftx-lawsuit-2023-5. [3] Id. [4] David Yaffe-Bellany, Matthew Goldstein & J. Edward Moreno, Sam Bankman-Fried Is Found Guilty of 7 Counts of Fraud and Conspiracy, NY Times (November 2, 2023), https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/02/technology/sam-bankman-fried-fraud-trial-ftx.html. [5] Amanda Hetler, FTX scam explained: Everything you need to know, TechTarget (Oct. 2, 2023), https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/feature/FTX-scam-explained-Everything-you-need-to-know#:~:text=Sam%20Bankman%2Dfried%20started%20FTX,an%20end%20in%20November%202022. [6] Timothy Smith, FTX: An Overview of the Exchange and Its Collapse, Investopedia (Jan. 5, 2023), https://www.investopedia.com/ftx-exchange-5200842. [7] Ken Sweet, ‘The money is gone’: Bahamas tries to turn page after FTX, Associated Press News (Jan. 8, 2023, 10:00 AM), https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-technology-bahamas-caribbean-nassau-7de9ee0db46b532b3609a26572e31853#. [8] Id. [9] 4 advantages of starting a business in the Bahamas, Tetra Consultants (Jan. 19, 2022), https://www.tetraconsultants.com/blog/advantages-of-starting-business-in-bahamas/#:~:text=Many%20open%20company%20in%20Bahamas,well%20as%20other%20excise%20taxes. [10] Tom Blackstone, The Rise and Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX, Security.org (Nov. 22, 2022), https://www.security.org/news/rise-and-fall-ftx/. [11] Id. [12] Id. [13] Id. [14] Id. [15] Alameda Research, Crunchbase, https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/alameda-research. [16] Alameda Research, InfluenceWatch, https://www.influencewatch.org/for-profit/alameda-research/. [17] Id. [18] Id. [19] Id. [20] Alameda Research, InfluenceWatch, https://www.influencewatch.org/for-profit/alameda-research/#:~:text=Alameda%20soon%20became%20the%20largest,about%20the%20firm%27s%20financial%20position. [21] Id. [22] Id. [23] Id. [24] Alameda Research, InfluenceWatch, https://www.influencewatch.org/for-profit/alameda-research/. [25] Id. [26] Britney Nguyen, Sam Bankman-Fried deleted his tweet saying FTX ‘assets are fine’ on the day he announced his Binance deal, Business Insider (Nov. 9, 2022, 1:36 PM), https://www.businessinsider.com/ftx-sam-bankman-fried-deleted-assets-fine-tweet-binance-deal-2022-11. [27] Nathan Reiff, The Collapse of FTX: What Went Wrong With the Crypto Exchange?, Investopedia (Feb. 27, 2023), https://www.investopedia.com/what-went-wrong-with-ftx-6828447#:~:text=FTX%20in%20November%202022%20faced,the%20company%20filed%20for%20bankruptcy. [28] Id. [29] Joel Khalili, The Trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, Explained, Wired (Oct. 2, 2023, 11:29 AM), https://www.wired.com/story/sam-bankman-fried-trial-explained/. [30] Id. [31] Matthew Goldstein, J. Edward Moreno & David Yaffe-Bellany, Star Witness Caroline Ellison Says Sam Bankman-Fried Made ‘Terrible Mistakes’, NY Times (Oct. 12, 2023), https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/12/technology/caroline-ellison-sam-bankman-fried-trial.html. [32] Victoria Bekiempis, Caroline Ellison’s testimony against Sam Bankman-Fried: five key takeaways, The Guardian (Oct. 13, 2023, 11:05 AM), https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/oct/13/caroline-ellison-testimony-sam-bankman-fried-trial-takeaways. [33] Marley Jay, Dawn Giel, CNBC & Phil Helsel, Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty on all counts at fraud trial over crypto exchange FTX, NBC News (November 2, 2023, 10:27PM), https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/sam-bankman-fried-verdict-ftx-trial-rcna123158. [34] Thomas Barrabi, Larry David ‘right’ about FTX collapse in old Super Bowl commercial, internet claims, NY Post (Nov. 14, 2022, 11:05 AM), https://nypost.com/2022/11/10/larry-david-right-about-ftx-collapse-in-old-super-bowl-commercial/. [35] Id.
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