A class action lawsuit against big-name celebrities who promoted bankrupt FTX including Shaquille O’Neal, Tom Brady and Naomi Osaka has garnered cooperation from a former executive, according to a recent court filing.
Former FTX Chief Compliance Officer Daniel Friedberg provided evidence tying Florida to the celebrities, according to lawyers representing the plaintiffs.
“Based upon this new, extensive evidence, there appears to be no state that has more connections to the FTX Brand Ambassador Defendants than the state of Florida,” lawyers for the plaintiffs said in the court filing on Thursday.
Florida is key since the lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida, though the defendants have said the court “lacks specific personal jurisdiction over them” and that they don’t have a connection to the state, according to the filing.
From the beginning
The class action lawsuit was first filed in November, days after FTX had announced that it filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The lawsuit claimed that 12 celebrities misled customers and engaged in deceptive practices to sell FTX yield-bearing digital currency accounts.
The suit alleged that “American consumers collectively sustained over $11 billion dollars in damages,” amid the collapse.
Lawyers laid out FTX’ connections to Florida in the complaint, including that it organized “its worldwide headquarters located here in Miami, Florida.”
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is facing criminal and civil charges in the US.
Most recently, he asked a New York judge to dismiss most of the criminal charges brought against him calling some of those charges “dramatic.”
Bankman-Fried has been charged with eight criminal charges, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
His lawyers asked for charges such as conspiring to commit wire fraud on FTX customers, bank fraud conspiracy, unlawful political contributions among others to be dismissed.
Bankman-Fried is facing more than 100 years in prison for his alleged crimes.
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