FTX Spent $1.3B in Celebrity Promotion and Deals, Trial Reveals

The criminal trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX is now in the third week and recent testimony has shown that the company spent about $1.3 billion on celebrity promotions.

Nishad Singh Testifies Against SBF

Ex-FTX engineering director Nishad Singh is the latest to take the witness stand in SBF’s case and while testifying on Monday, he read out a list of deals with influencers and celebrities as prompted by the prosecutor. 

It was discovered that all together, the funds that have been given to these influencers summed up to over $1 billion. One such deal is the $135 million that the crypto exchange spent to rename a famous entertainment complex in Miami to the FTX Arena although, a venue that is now Kaseya Center.

There is also the payment made to basketball legend Steph Curry, former quarterback Tom Brady, model Gisele Bundchen, actor Larry David and Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary. Curry received $28 million from FTX while O’Leary got $14 million. The amount of funds given to the other celebrities were not disclosed.

In addition, Nishad recalled a conversation which he had with Bankman-Fried and former FTX executive Gary Wang, pointing out an investment in K5 Global, a company owned and managed by Michael Kives and Bryan Baum. According to Singh, Bankman-Fried instructed himself and Wang to give millions in bonus to Kives and Baum as well as a billion investment in their venture capital firm. 

Nishad claimed that his response to that instruction was for the former FTX CEO to give his personal money out instead of that of the firm. It is worth noting that sometime in June, FTX was trying to recoup $700 million from K5 Global and in the process had to sue the company. 

SBF Overruled Alameda Research’s Leadership

Amongst other things, Nishad talked about how SBF took decisions relating to Alameda Research on his own regardless of who was in charge. He clearly pointed out Bankman-Fried remained “in charge” even when Alameda Research was being run by Caroline Ellison, his ex-girlfriend and Sam Trabucco. 

As the trial progresses, there are bound to be more shocking revelations and it is not yet certain how many years of jail time SBF will be sentenced to if found guilty of all these allegations.