CRIMINAL CRYPTO CAPITALI$M
Bankman-Fried Spent $1 Billion on FTX Endorsements by Tom Brady, Giselle Bundchen, Larry David, Steph Curry — Plus Naming Rights, Witness Testifies
SBX also invested $200 million in a VC fund to get access to more famous people, FTX's former engineering chief said
Published 10/16/23
Sam Bankman-Fried spent more than $1 billion on celebrity endorsements and naming rights and invested $200 million in a venture capital firm to get access to influential people in the hopes of promoting his cryptocurrency exchange FTX, a former employee testified Monday.
Nishad Singh, FTX's former head of engineering who has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify as a prosecution witness, said Bankman-Fried agreed to the payout after attending a dinner in Los Angeles in early 2022 that included Katy Perry, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeff Bezos, Kendall Jenner and Hillary Clinton, among others. The dinner was hosted by K5 Global, the venture firm that received the investment.
Prosecutors introduced a photo from Katy Perry's Instagram account of Bankman-Fried at the 2022 Superbowl with Perry, Orlando Bloom, Kate Hudson and executives from K5.
The $1.13 billion in spending on endorsements included naming rights to the Miami Heat arena ($205 million), as well as payments to Tom Brady and Giselle Bundchen ($68 million) and Larry David ($10 million), all of whom appeared in FTX advertisements . Other payments included Steph Curry ($30 million) and the company behind the video game League of Legends.
Singh, who held a minority stake in FTX, testified he objected to the spending, saying it seemed pricey and "really toxic to FTX culture." Singh asked Bankman-Fried if FTX could back out, but was he was told it was a done deal.
Bankman-Fried said, "'These are all areas in which increasing FTX's influence would help propel its success," Singh testified, adding that Bankman-Fried described K5 in a memo as a "one-stop shop for relationships we should utilize."
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