Celebrities Agrees to Settle With Investors on Misleading FTX Promotion

Some celebrities caught in the FTX promotion saga have decided to settle with investors who claimed that their advertising was misleading. 

A Bloomberg report confirmed that National Football League (NFL) quarterback Trevor Lawrence and YouTube influencers Kevin Paffrath and Tom Nash have all entered a proposed agreement, although the details of the settlement are yet to be disclosed.

Out of all the prominent individuals caught in the web of the FTX class-action lawsuit, Lawrence, Paffrath, and Nash were reportedly the first to have reached a settlement.

FTX Accused of Breaking The Law

Right after FTX imploded, its former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sam Bankman-Fried was accused of breaking the law by marketing yield-bearing cryptocurrency accounts at the now-bankrupt exchange. According to the filing, this caused a number of investors to lose up to $11 billion as a result of the exchange’s failure to follow withdrawal requests. 

Tennis star Naomi Osaka who became FTX ambassador a few months before the implosion and NFL quarterback Tom Brady, were all named as respondents in the lawsuit. Other celebrities in the class-action lawsuit were Gisele Bündchen, Kevin O’Leary, Shaquille O’Neal and David Ortiz. 

YouTuber Served a Lawsuit in Connection to FTX Promotion 

Later this year, Tom Nash, a crypto YouTuber, was served with a lawsuit via Twitter.

This was because attorneys had earlier tried to notify through other means but all efforts proved abortive, therefore, a US judge permitted the action. Also, his regular use of the Twitter platform suggested that it was the most appropriate way to reach him.Nash allegedly played a major role in the FTX promotion affair. 

Per the filing, “Nash has an established Internet-based business, utilizes electronic means, including Twitter, as reliable forms of contact; and has publicly acknowledged [a] personal email address.”

More YouTubers in FTX Affair 

Markedly, Nash was not the only YouTuber in this case. Rather, Paffrath and Nash are among eight Youtubers accused of failing to disclose compensations they raked in from the firm. 

The other six are Graham Stephan, Andrei Jikh, Jaspreet Singh, Brian Jung, Jeremy Lefebvre and Erika Kullberg. Creative Agency, the talent management company behind the promotion of FTX was not left behind in the lawsuit. 

Meanwhile, FTX is considering strategies to recover the millions of dollars paid to several celebrities who promoted the crypto exchange before its insolvency in November 2022.