A number of celebrities and hedge fund titans invested millions of dollars in bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, new court documents reveal.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, NFL quarterback Tom Brady, and billionaire hedge fund managers Paul Tudor Jones and Dan Loeb are among the people who invested in FTX before its $8 billion U.S. collapse and bankruptcy filing last November.
Court filings show that the number of celebrity investors and big-name financers that put money into FTX is bigger than previously disclosed. FTX went through four fundraising rounds to reach a $32 billion U.S. valuation by early 2022.
Now those investors are grappling with major losses in the wake of FTX’s bankruptcy filing.
Hedge fund manager Dan Loeb controlled more than six million preferred shares of FTX through his company called Third Point.
Rival crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), which just announced it is cutting more than 1,000 jobs, held nearly 1.3 million preferred shares in FTX.
Paul Tudor Jones owned shares in FTX through a series of family trusts, while New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft controlled 155,144 shares of FTX preferred stock.
Tom Brady, who worked as a pitchman for FTX, held common stock in the company alongside his former wife, supermodel Giselle Bündchen. The couple divorced last year.
Former FTX chief executive officer (CEO) Sam Bankman-Fried has been charged with multiple counts of securities violations and fraud. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and been released from police custody on a record $250 million U.S. bond.
In court filings, lawyers for FTX have said that the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange has more than one million creditors who are seeking a combined $8 billion U.S. of invested money, most of which is now missing or gone.
