FTX scandal: Tom Brady among the biggest losers

The bankruptcy of cryptocurrency company FTX will cause a lot of trouble for quarterback Tom Brady, who will lose millions of dollars.

• Also Read: FTX: Ex-cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to fraud in New York

• Also Read: Cryptocurrencies: Good here despite down 62% in twelve months

Documents filed in Delaware bankruptcy court show the 45-year-old athlete owns more than 1.1 million shares of FTX.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was also among those who invested heavily in the company that would prove to be a fraud.

Last month, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was indicted and faces two counts of wire fraud and six counts of conspiracy in federal court in Manhattan.

The 30-year-old, who has pleaded not guilty, is accused of stealing client deposits to pay off debts from his hedge fund and lying to investors about FTX’s financial condition.

Investors like Brady and Kraft seem unlikely to be paid back.

“Ultimately, we won’t recover all the losses,” John J. Ray III, who is managing the restructuring of FTX, said in December.

At the same time last year, FTX raised about $400 million, which helped boost the company’s valuation to nearly $32 billion. Thus, Bankman-Fried became one of the richest people in the world.

Brady and his ex-wife Gisele Bündchen are part of a prominent group promoting FTX. The two were notably involved in commercials for the company during the last Super Bowl.

Their role in promoting FTX is already under legal scrutiny.

Shortly after the cryptocurrency business collapsed, a client filed a class action lawsuit against the founder along with Brady, Bündchen and several other celebrities.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers specifically argued that FTX was a “massive Ponzi scheme” and that the executives behind it were “PR and marketing geniuses”.