Sam Bankman-Fried is the co-founder of FTX and a friend/sponsor of Tom Brady Convicted of seven federal charges A New York jury reached its verdict Thursday.
Bankman-Fried, 31, was charged with wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering.
He now faces up to 110 years in prison. He will be sentenced in March.
During the rise of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Bankman-Fried specifically targeted Brady for sponsored transactions because he (according to Bankman-Fried in Michael Lewis’s book) Go to infinity) “One of the few people or things in the world that truly captures our imagination.”
After Bankman-Fried and Brady began their business relationship (this is a video Brady and Bankman-Fried), Bankman-Fried said, “Everywhere he goes, people mention they’ve heard of FTX because of Brady.”
As Bankman-Fried wrote in a memo to his team (also based on Go to infinity), “No one cared if Coinbase hired Russell Wilson as a spokesperson after we got Brady.”
In return, Brady received $55 million worth of FTX stock. (His ex-wife, Gisele Bundchen, received $19.8 million.) It was all worthless.
Bankman-Fried was supposed to play in the Rams-Buccaneers game with Brady on Nov. 6, 2022. Bankman-Fried was unable to make the trip because FTX was in the midst of a run on deposits, ultimately triggering the company’s collapse and today’s conviction.
Brady was civilly sued for promoting the eventual hoax. None of this really bothers Brady from a PR perspective, although the lawsuit will likely take a chunk of money out of his bank account through attorney fees and a potential settlement or judgment.