Sebastian Sinclair

NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal has finally been served by lawyers representing investors in a class-action lawsuit against FTX celebrity endorsers.



O’Neal was handed official legal documents outside his Texas residence at 4pm local time on Sunday. Adam Moskowitz, managing partner and class-action co-counsel at The Moskowitz Law Firm, confirmed the serving to Blockworks in an email.



“The good news is his home video cameras recorded our service and we made it very clear that he is not to destroy and/or erase any of these security tapes because they must be preserved for our lawsuit,” he said.



As of last week, O’Neal was the last remaining defendant named in the suit to be served. O’Neal joins Tom Brady, Larry David, Gisele Bündchen, Stephen Curry and Kevin O’Leary, among others.



The development ends a three-month hunt to serve the former basketball superstar over his role in endorsing the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ftx-new-management-findings" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">now-defunct crypto exchange</a> FTX.



FTX pushed sweeping marketing campaigns, including Super Bowl ads, celebrity endorsements and naming rights to the Miami Heat’s arena. Some promotions reportedly promised investors greater returns than a typical deposit account.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">And oh yeah, 🏈 + <a href="https://twitter.com/SHAQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SHAQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/QlZpvMfnCp">pic.twitter.com/QlZpvMfnCp</a>&mdash; FTX (@FTX_Official) <a href="https://twitter.com/FTX_Official/status/1492368625830871040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2022</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Shaquille O&#8217;Neal still lives on FTX&#8217;s Twitter timeline</figcaption></figure>



The lawsuit was filed by a retail investor on behalf of other FTX users who’d been influenced to use the platform by celebrities. O’Neal’s “FTX: I Am All In” commercial, cited by Garrison, was created by New York advertising agency Dentsu McGarrybowen and global partnership firm Wasserman.



FTX filed for bankruptcy last November following an $8-billion wave of withdrawals, which quickly led to allegations of severe mismanagement and fraud. Former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sam-bankman-fried-issues-not-guilty-plea" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pleaded not guilty</a> to federal charges and awaits trial later this year, while close associates have <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ftx-alameda-execs-plead-guilty-to-fraud-released-on-bail" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">struck plea deals</a> to cooperate with the US government.



Lawyers had until Monday to hand over official legal documents to O’Neal after Judge Michael Moore, presiding, issued a deadline after denying a request to serve the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/shaquille-oneal-ftx-lawsuit-not-served" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">celebrity via Twitter</a>.



“We took Judge Moore’s instructions very seriously and are glad to finally end this silly sideshow,” Moskowitz said. Blockworks attempted to contact O’Neal via his philanthropy website but did not immediately receive a response.



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Shaquille O’Neal Served in FTX Case, Ending 3-Month ‘Sideshow’

Ornella Hernandez

What appears to be the first class action lawsuit filed against FTX and a number of its high-profile backers claims the insolvent crypto exchange violated Florida law and is demanding $11 billion in damages on behalf of its customers.&nbsp;



Adam Moskowitz — the attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Oklahoma resident Edwin Garrison and related counterparties in the Southern District of Florida — said FTX’s founder and former chief executive, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/sam-bankman-fried/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sam Bankman-Fried</a> orchestrated “massive fraud” in improperly trading customer funds. 



Defendants include the following: <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/news/celebrities-erase-ftx-ties/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tom Brady</a>, Gisele Bundchen, Stephen Curry, the Golden State Warriors, Shaquille O’Neal, Udonis Haslem, David Ortiz, William Trevor Lawrence, Shohei Ohtani, Naomi Osaka, Lawrence Gene David and Kevin O’Leary.



All are allegedly “responsible for the many billions of dollars in damages.”



Using “the largest and most well-known marketers and celebrities was the only way that this massive fraud could have been successful,” Moskowitz said.&nbsp;



The legal action’s chance of succeeding, however, isn’t yet known. Representatives for the defendants declined to comment, did not immediately return requests for comment or could not be reached.



Added Moskowitz: “Regular people on the street that have smartphones needed to hear from somebody [who] they very much respect in order to make this decision to go ahead and buy something they&#8217;ve never heard of.”



Brady and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/news/ftx-names-stephen-curry-a-global-ambassador/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Curry were brand ambassadors</a> that received equity in FTX and were characterized in the litigation as “parties who either controlled, promoted, assisted in, and actively participated in” the “offer and sale of unregistered” yield-bearing <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/ftx-us/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FTX US</a> investment products that were, in fact, unregulated securities.



The suit’s “main focus” is making whole FTX US app users whose funds have been frozen, the attorney said — an endeavor he dubbed “absolutely realistic,” albeit “difficult.”&nbsp;



The lawsuit calls FTX a “deceptive” platform, a “house of cards,” and a Ponzi scheme that “shuffled customer funds between their opaque affiliated entities, using new investor funds obtained through investments…and loans to pay interest to the old ones and to attempt to maintain the appearance of liquidity.” 



Asked what precedent this lawsuit may set, Moskowitz answered that “greed doesn&#8217;t pay off” and that the only people who are going to get hurt are the consumers.



Moskowitz is also behind another crypto-focused class action against Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks and Stephen Ehrlich — founder and CEO of Voyager Digital — seeking to recover damages on behalf of Voyager customers.



FTX <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/news/ftx-us-wins-voyager-digital-asset-auction-for-1-4b/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">won a bankruptcy auction in September</a> to buy Voyager’s assets, before collapsing into bankruptcy itself last week. Now, Voyager is looking for a new buyer.



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What Do Tom Brady, Steph Curry and Naomi Osaka Have in Common? An FTX Lawsuit.

Casey Wagner

Sam Bankman-Fried, essentially, deceived everyone.&nbsp;



Celebrity backers. Politicians. Regulators.&nbsp;



Now, as industry participants parse the growing fallout of the collapse of his former cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, prominent figures are rushing to quietly erase evidence of once-chummy relationships with the alleged fraudster.



There&#8217;s precedent for this. CFTC Commissioner Caroline Pham, appointed in April 2022, deleted a tweet of a photograph with Bankman-Fried that she had posted shortly after she was sworn in. She did so just four days after tweeting it because, &#8220;this post became distracting from the key issues of their CFTC application,&#8221; her office told Blockworks in an email.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cftc-meeting-with-ftx-april-2022.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-39446" width="474" height="471" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cftc-meeting-with-ftx-april-2022.jpg?w=947 947w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cftc-meeting-with-ftx-april-2022.jpg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cftc-meeting-with-ftx-april-2022.jpg?w=150 150w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cftc-meeting-with-ftx-april-2022.jpg?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cftc-meeting-with-ftx-april-2022.jpg?w=258 258w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cftc-meeting-with-ftx-april-2022.jpg?w=262 262w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cftc-meeting-with-ftx-april-2022.jpg?w=220 220w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cftc-meeting-with-ftx-april-2022.jpg?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cftc-meeting-with-ftx-april-2022.jpg?w=50 50w" sizes="(max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px" /><figcaption>Tweet deleted on April 24, 2022, <a href="https://twitter.com/EpsilonTheory/status/1590458516548259845" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">originally posted</a> by @EpsilonTheory</figcaption></figure></div>


Pham went on to call for more stringent global regulations after FTX filed for bankruptcy during a <a href="https://twitter.com/BloombergTV/status/1590688244735287296?s=20&amp;t=-Mj5ydDLUaauQ6JgReWiOg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bloomberg</a> appearance last week.&nbsp;



Others have begun damage control, more recently. The NFL’s Tom Brady — who in 2021 bought an equity stake in FTX with then-wife Gisele Bundchen — <a href="https://twitter.com/cmsintern/status/1592372634955976704?s=20&amp;t=KNfZJva5rnRdTiPGR7UqMQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wiped all evidence</a> of his ties to the company and Bankman-Fried.&nbsp;



Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman also joined in on the deleting spree, removing a supportive response to Bankman-Fried’s apology. Ackman quickly was hit by pushback — especially from digital asset-focused investors — for appearing too forgiving in the wake of the collapse.&nbsp;&nbsp;


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/bill-ackman-deleted-tweet-1024x561.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-38963" width="768" height="421" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/bill-ackman-deleted-tweet-1024x561.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/bill-ackman-deleted-tweet-1024x561.jpg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/bill-ackman-deleted-tweet-1024x561.jpg?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/bill-ackman-deleted-tweet-1024x561.jpg?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/bill-ackman-deleted-tweet-1024x561.jpg?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/bill-ackman-deleted-tweet-1024x561.jpg?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/bill-ackman-deleted-tweet-1024x561.jpg?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/bill-ackman-deleted-tweet-1024x561.jpg?w=50 50w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/bill-ackman-deleted-tweet-1024x561.jpg?w=1187 1187w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" /></figure></div>


Other celebrities have remained silent. Comedian Larry David, who famously starred in FTX’s alleged $30 million <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/news/what-crypto-super-bowl-ads-can-we-expect-in-2023/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Super Bowl ad</a>, has not made any public statements. And NBA star <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/news/celebrities-shilled-crypto-at-the-top-can-they-learn-for-next-cycle/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Steph Curry</a>, a face of the brand who also holds an equity stake, has likewise gone dark.&nbsp;



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/news/us-politicians-donate-bankman-fried-cash-to-charity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Politicians</a> who benefited from Bankman-Fried&#8217;s ill-gotten gains are also doing damage control.&nbsp;



Democrats Dick Durbin and Jesús “Chuy” García said they would <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/news/us-politicians-donate-bankman-fried-cash-to-charity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">donate</a> the $2,900 they received from Bankman-Fried to undisclosed charities, according to a report from the <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/democrats-took-sam-bankman-frieds-shady-ftx-crypto-money-will-they-keep-it" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Daily Beast</a>. Republican David Schweikert pledged to give up his FTX-linked cash, which also amounted to $2,900.



As the now-defunct exchange and more than 130 affiliated companies continue with bankruptcy proceedings, the list of <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/news/ftx-doom-draws-dozens-of-federal-state-international-agencies/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">creditors</a> lies somewhere between 100,000 and one million users and investors, according to regulators. Some hope remains, though.



“All may not be lost for FTX customers, and they may be able to recover 40% to 50% of their deposits,” Messari research analyst Kunal Goel wrote in a note Tuesday. “Sifting through FTX’s balance sheet, as shared by the Financial Times, shows that FTX may have up to $4 billion in realizable assets against $8 billion in customer deposits. Some broad assumptions must be made to calculate the realizable value of FTX’s assets.”



Representatives for those with FTX affiliations did not immediately return requests for comment.



This story was updated on Nov. 17 at 11:30 am ET to reflect that CFTC Commissioner Pham deleted her tweet prior to the FTX bankruptcy.



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Celebrities, Investors Scramble To Erase Evidence of SBF Ties

Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_623a29cff3ea8" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Crypto.com had already made deals with the Australian Football League and Formula One this year</li>
 <li>Competitor FTX landed a partnership with tennis player Naomi Osaka on Monday</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Crypto.com will be a sponsor for the 2022 FIFA <a href="https://www.fifa.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">World Cup</a>, which is set to take place in Qatar in November and December.



As the exclusive cryptocurrency trading platform sponsor for the soccer event, the company’s brand will be on display inside and outside the tournament’s stadiums. Crypto.com will also offer opportunities for new and existing users to attend matches or win exclusive merchandise.



“There is no platform bigger, or with a greater reach and cultural impact, than FIFA’s global platform of football,” FIFA Chief Commercial Officer Kay Madati said in a statement. “We are delighted to have a global brand like Crypto.com join us as a sponsor of the exciting and groundbreaking FIFA World Cup in Qatar, ultimately helping to grow our beautiful game on a global scale.”



The company has made sports sponsorship deals a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-com-cmo-on-how-company-went-from-app-to-global-brand/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">core component</a> of its brand-building campaign. It bought the naming rights to the Staples Center in Los Angeles last November as part of a 20-year, $700 million deal and aired a commercial starring actor Matt Damon.



In January this year it <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-com-australian-football-league-sign-18m-sponsorship-deal-in-country-first/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">signed a five-year sponsorship deal</a> with the Australian Football League and last month announced it would sponsor what will be known as the Formula One Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix in May.



The company was also among several industry heavyweights, including FTX and Coinbase, to run an advertisement <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/super-bowl-ads-spark-public-interest-coinbase-site-crashes-from-traffic/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">during the Super Bowl</a> on Feb. 13. The 30-second commercial featured LeBron James and followed Crypto.com’s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/lebron-james-partners-with-crypto-com-to-help-kids-learn-about-digital-future/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">partnership with the four-time NBA champion</a> to teach kids about crypto technology.



Other crypto firms have kept pace on the sports marketing front. Terra, for example, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/washington-nationals-latest-pro-sports-team-to-strike-crypto-deal/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">partnered with the Washington Nationals</a> last month. The baseball team said that stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) could be accepted as a payment method at Nationals Park next season.



Most recently, FTX landed a deal with tennis player Naomi Osaka on Monday. Joining athletes Tom Brady, Stephen Curry and others as a brand ambassador for the crypto company, the four-time Grand Slam winner will produce content and projects to reach young women in crypto.



Founded in 2016,&nbsp;Crypto.com has more than 10 million customers and roughly 4,000 employees across its offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia.



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Crypto.com Adds FIFA World Cup Sponsorship to Sports Marketing Strategy

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_61716cfd8b048" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The valuation increased 38.8% to $25 billion from $18 billion in July, when the company raised $900 million</li>
 <li>In the past three months alone, FTX’s user base has increased 48% and average trading volume is up 75% to about $14 billion per day in daily volume, the company said</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Sam Bankman-Fried’s global cryptocurrency exchange FTX has raised $420,690,000 in a Series B-1 fundraise, the company said in an announcement Thursday.&nbsp;



It’s probably no coincidence that the company raised that specific amount with the numbers 420, which references the date April 20th — a holiday celebrating marijuana — and 69, which represents&#8230;well, you know.&nbsp;



The valuation increased 38.8% to $25 billion from $18 billion in July, when the company raised <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ftx-closes-900m-series-b-round-valuing-exchange-at-18b/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$900 million in its Series B</a>. With that said, FTX disclosed that Temasek participated in the previous Series B, updating the total amount raised from $900 million to $1 billion.&nbsp;



In the past three months alone, FTX’s user base has increased 48% and average trading volume is up 75% to about $14 billion per day in daily volume, the company said.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">69 Investors</h3>



There were, yes, 69 investors who participated in this round, including funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, which has $9.49 trillion assets under management.&nbsp;



Other investors include Ontario Teachers&#8217; Pension Plan Board, via its Teachers&#8217; Innovation Platform, Temasek, Sequoia Capital, Sea Capital, IVP, ICONIQ Growth, Tiger Global, Ribbit Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners.&nbsp;



“The additional capital and group of investors will let us provide the experience our users deserve and address other adjacent market opportunities including equities, prediction markets, NFTs and videogame partnerships,” said Ramnik Arora, head of product at FTX, said in a statement.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“We expect to make strategic investments designed to grow the business and expand our regulatory coverage,” Arora added.</blockquote>



The funding will be used to expand FTX to new jurisdictions, improve current offerings and continue to establish itself.&nbsp;



In general, FTX is ramping up its presence, both in the crypto world and in sports, sponsoring activities as diverse as basketball and chess, as part of an effort to reach a mainstream audience and expand its reach.&nbsp;



Recently, FTX named Stephen Curry, a three-time NBA champion, a global ambassador, Blockworks <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ftx-names-stephen-curry-a-global-ambassador/">previously reported</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ftx-inks-135m-sponsorship-deal-for-miami-heat-arena/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">In March</a>, the company finalized a 19-year, $135 million deal with Miami-Dade County in Florida to take over naming rights of the county’s basketball stadium for the Miami Heat, formerly known as American Airlines Arena.&nbsp;In June, the exchange <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-23/crypto-firm-ftx-to-sponsor-major-league-baseball-in-partnership" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">expanded its sponsorship</a> of US professional sports when it signed a sponsorship deal with Major League Baseball. Also in June, National Football League star and rising crypto influencer Tom Brady became an “ambassador” for FTX in exchange for an equity position in the company.