A federal judge in Florida has tossed out most of the legal claims brought against high-profile celebrities and YouTubers who helped promote the collapsed crypto exchange FTX, according to a Wednesday court filing.
The decision lets people like Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen, Steph Curry, and Kevin O’Leary off the hook in a lawsuit that accused them of helping advertise a company that stole billions from customers before its crash in November 2022.
The judge, K. Michael Moore, ruled that the investors behind the lawsuit didn’t provide enough proof that these celebrities actually knew about the fraud going on inside FTX or that they understood what Sam Bankman-Fried, the exchange’s former CEO, was doing when they agreed to promote the platform.
The celebrities had been paid huge sums to appear in ads and campaigns, but didn’t tell the public about those payments. Still, the court said that wasn’t enough to pin legal liability on them.
Judge says FTX endorsements don’t equal liability
In his order, Michael Moore wrote that the plaintiffs failed to show that Brady, Gisele, Curry, or O’Leary had “actual knowledge” of the wrongdoing happening behind the scenes.
The court also dismissed nearly all the claims against the so-called YouTuber Defendants, who were accused of using their channels to promote FTX to millions of followers.
The lawsuit was part of a huge multidistrict litigation effort that linked several celebrity and influencer endorsements to the company’s collapse.
Plaintiffs said the stars helped build public trust in a platform that turned out to be a scam. They accused the promoters of pushing unregistered securities and violating ad laws by not disclosing their deals. But the judge wasn’t buying it.
Michael Moore made it clear that unless someone was inside FTX or had real access to what Sam Bankman-Fried was doing, they couldn’t be held responsible just for showing up in ads. He said the complaints didn’t show enough facts to connect these people to the fraud.
