Tom Brady and Shaq among huge list of sport stars being sued by crypto investors

Tom Brady and Shaquille O'Neal are among the list of big-name sports stars who are reportedly being sued for 'deceptive practices' by cryptocurrency investors.

The class action lawsuit filed in Florida comes in the wake of the collapse a popular crypto exchange by the name of FTX, a company said to be valued at around US$32billion per Newscorp.

It's understood Brady, Shaq ands bunch of other high-profile athletes all endorsed this app.

This week, with the crypto market looking increasingly shaky, FTX made headlines by announcing it had filed for bankruptcy, essentially claiming they didn't have enough money to cash users out.

Not only were users left in the dark about where their money was now sitting, but it seems people are also taking aim at the app's ambassadors.

Alamy

Alamy

A lawsuit filed in federal court alleges that FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried was running a fraudulent scheme "designed to take advantage of unsophisticated investors from across the country".

Named in the lawsuit is a bunch of sports megastars including Shaq, Brady and his wife Gisele Bundchen, Steph Curry, Naomi Osaka, David Ortiz, Trevor Lawrence and Shohei Ohtani.

Other celebs like Larry David and Kevin O'Leary are also named with the lawsuit accusing the group of facilitating the plan.

“Part of the scheme employed by the FTX Entities involved utilising some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment… pouring billions of dollars into the Deceptive FTX Platform to keep the whole scheme afloat,” the lawsuit states.

Attorneys allege that the actions of the aforementioned contributed to millions of investors subscribing to FTX and exchanging its digital currency, only to ultimately lose tons of money when it crashed just a few years later.

Brady and Gisele, for instance, shot a commercial together back in 2021, encouraging users to join the platform.

The suit also claims that the collapse of FTX, which they're saying was built purely as a fraud scheme, cost consumers over US $11billion in damages.

It's understood that figure is what the lawsuit is seeking to recover.

As for Bankman-Fried, whose net worth was valued as high as $17 billion at one point, he is now broke as criminal charges continue to stack up.

SPORTbible has reached out to those mentioned in this article for comment.

Topics: Shaquille O’Neal, Tom Brady, Naomi Osaka

Max Sherry

Max Sherry is a journalist for SPORTbible Australia. After migrating Down Under from London as a teenager, he instantly fell in love with Aussie sport and its culture. From NRL to AFL, cricket to rugby — you name it, Max watches it (with a beer in hand, of course). During his time at Fox Sports, he worked in the football department covering the Premier League, A-League, Socceroos and Matildas. Born a stone's throw away from West Ham's training ground, Max is obviously a die-hard Liverpool fan.

@maxysherry