According to the Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen, her financial advisers persuaded her to invest in the now-bankrupt exchange FTX. She thought it was “a sound and great” opportunity. Both she and her ex-husband NFL legend Tom Brady lost significant amounts of money because of their association with the former crypto giant.
Praying for Justice
The November 2021 collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX left investors – including celebrities, TV personalities, and notable athletes – empty-handed. Gisele Bündchen was among the highest-paid models in the world who suffered losses. In a recent interview, she blamed her financial advisers for her involvement in the crash. She trusted the hype around the former CEO of the platform, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), and was “blindsided” by the situation.
She has called for justice and expressed her regret for all those affected. As CryptoPotato recently reported, she owns over 680,000 common shares of FTX, while Tom Brady holds more than 1.1 million stocks. Other prominent figures who lost money include Canadian entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary (better known as Mr. Wonderful) and American billionaire Robert Kraft. Renowned companies such as Amazon, Google, Netflix, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and more are also involved as the exchange’s creditors.
The FTX Doom: Crypto’s Darkest Event in 2022
The FTX collapse in November 2021 was one of the biggest crypto catastrophes. Reports emerged in the beginning of the month that the platform’s sister firm, Alameda Research, was heavily invested in FTT – the native token of FTX. Several days later, Binance – the world’s biggest crypto exchange – vowed to liquidate all of its remaining FTT holdings, leading to a price crash of the token.
Despite growing uncertainty around FTX, SBF assured the public that the company was stable, and its assets were “fine.” However, the firm stopped honoring withdrawal requests, and Binance backed out of its plan to acquire it. SBF apologized for some mistakes, including misjudging FTX’s liquidity, which contributed to the company’s downfall. He resigned from his CEO position on November 11, while his company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Many considered the FTX collapse a classic example of fraud, leading to investor losses in the billions, a market decline, and other adverse events in the sector. SBF was arrested and spent several days in a Bahamian jail before US authorities extradited him.
US courts allowed SBF to stay at home under a $250 million bond. He will face trial on October 2, where he will find out if he played a part in FTX’s demise and his final sentence.
Featured Image Courtesy of CW
