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Additional reporting by Sherin Shibu.
The collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX crypto empire wasn’t just felt by those deep within the crypto community: some big entrepreneurs and celebrities also lost a lot of money.
Although SBF supposedly led investors to believe it could offer them high returns with little risk, more than a million people may have been affected by the collapse, and big-spending cryptocurrency beginners quickly discovered that cryptocurrency trading is not for the faint of heart.
RELATED: Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison for multi-billion dollar crypto fraud
In November, banker Fried was found guilty of seven counts of fraud, embezzlement and conspiracy for orchestrating “one of the largest financial frauds in American history” after a bank run exposed a $8 billion hole in corporate accounts and a piggy bank relationship with cryptocurrency trading firm Alameda Research.
Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday in a Manhattan federal court to 25 years in prison.
Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York said Bankman-Fried was “extremely intelligent” and agreed with prosecutors that Bankman-Fried “wanted to be an extremely, extremely politically influential person in this country.”
Kaplan said that the amount of losses suffered by victims of Bankman-Fried’s crimes exceeded $550 million, and that investors lost billions.
Meanwhile, FTX’s new CEO, John Ray, who took over from SBF after the company filed for bankruptcy, said the company has identified $5 billion in cash and other assets, and while they are not done uncovering funds found, they expect to sell for even over 4.6 dollars. billions also in additional equity investments.
It’s unclear how the recovered funds will be divided, but typically in bankruptcy proceedings, only bond holders are entitled to recover a portion of their losses, while those with equity holdings are left at a loss, according to Markets Insider.
Sequoia Capital likely suffered the largest loss to an outside investor on the exchange with its $200 million investment, which peaked at $350 million in January 2022, according to data obtained by Forbes.
RELATED: Who is FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried?
While Sequoia reportedly told investors that its investment in FTX was offset by its $7.5 billion in realized and unrealized gains, Singapore investment firm Temasek was not as lucky.
The company reportedly invested $210 million for 1% of FTX and $65 million for 1.5% of FTX US, but has since brought its stake to zero.
Additionally, investment firm Paradigm is said to have invested $215 million, while the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan invested $75 million, and has since zeroed out its investments.
Here’s a look at some of the famous faces who lost big in the FTX crypto collapse.
Tom Brady
Tom Brady is the most famous face promoting and investing in FTX – and he may well have suffered the biggest individual loss. According to Bloomberg, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback owned more than 1.1 million shares of FTX Trading common stock, which was equivalent to about $45 million before the company went bankrupt.
Although his investment is now zero following the collapse, he previously supported the exchange and appeared in several promotional ads with his ex-wife Gisele Bündchen.
Gisele Bundchen
Along with her ex-husband, Tom Brady, the supermodel also lost a significant portion of her wealth in the exchange. Bündchen reportedly owned 680,000 FTX shares, valued at approximately $25 million.
Kevin O’Leary
The Shark Tank entrepreneur was an avid supporter of SBF’s FTX before the cryptocurrency exchange’s collapse. As a paid spokesperson for the company, O’Leary owned 32,000 shares of FTX and 110,000 shares of FTX US. He said his shares were valued at $1 million at a US Senate banking committee in December, adding that he has since “written them down to zero.”
O’Leary told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in December that he was paid about $15 million to serve as a paid spokesperson for the brand and that he had invested just under $10 million in the cryptocurrency exchange. But he said his investment in cryptocurrencies is now zero.
Roberto Kraft
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft also fell victim to FTX. He reportedly owned approximately 630,000 total shares related to FTX through KPC Venture Capital LLC, an entity linked to the Kraft Group.
Using O’Leary’s valuation, the NFL team owner may have lost an eight-figure investment.
Roberto Belfer
Billionaire oil baron Robert Belfer, once known as the heir to the failed gas company Enron, also reportedly lost millions in the collapse of FTX. According to court documents obtained by the Financial Times, two companies linked to the Belfer family held shares in both FTX and FTX US with a combined stake of $34.5 million. Belfer was also involved in Bernie Madoff’s infamous Ponzi scheme.
Antonio Scaramucci
Donald Trump’s former communications director was also involved in the FTX collapse with his alternative investment firm, SkyBridge Capital. Last September, FTX acquired a 30% stake in SkyBridge Capital, according to The Street, and while details of the deal are unknown, Scaramucci said it was loss-making despite the purchase.
“We’ve lost money overall because the overall portfolio is collapsing because of this debacle, so yes, I think so,” he said when asked about the November collapse at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore.
RELATED: ‘I did not steal funds and I certainly did not hide billions’: Sam Bankman-Fried speaks out for the first time since his arrest
Stephen Curry
Stephen Curry was one of the many celebrities to support FTX with his various commercials and partnership with the brand in 2021. Like Brady and Bündchen, Curry also earned a stake in FTX for his work with the company.
Curry’s team, the Golden State Warriors also became embroiled in the scandal after FTX agreed to pay $10 million for an international rights sponsorship deal that provided the exchange with in-area signage, exclusive brand placements and the rights to the team’s NFTs in December 2021.
Do you want to know more about cryptocurrencies? As the world’s leading cryptocurrency expert, @stephencurry30 Has he got you covered…or has he?
https://t.co/KACxuGfVLq pic.twitter.com/liVDS37DAP
— FTX (@FTX_Official) March 29, 2022
Curry is also named in a class action lawsuit that alleges that celebrities who endorsed FTX participated in deceptive schemes to “induce trust and pressure consumers into investing in what was ultimately a Ponzi scheme,” according to the lawsuit.
Also named in the lawsuit are Sam Bankman-Fried, Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, Kevin O’Leary, Shaquille O’Neal, Udonis Haslem, David Ortiz, William Trevor Lawrence, Shohei Ohtani, Naomi Osaka and Larry David.
Naomi Osaka
According to Reuters, tennis star Naomi Osaka also signed a long-term partnership deal with FTX in March that was supposed to help bring women into the world of cryptocurrencies. She was awarded an equity stake in the company and she received compensation in the form of cryptocurrency.
Four-time Grand Slam champion, @naomiosaka he is changing the game on and off the field. We are incredibly proud to call her our new partner!
work to achieve #bitcoin and more accessible cryptocurrencies. pic.twitter.com/aA3wd7eY0r
— FTX (@FTX_Official) March 21, 2022
David Ortiz
Red Sox baseball legend David Ortiz also signed on to become an ambassador for FTX in October 2021 and agreed to be compensated in cryptocurrency, according to CoinDesk. At the time, he agreed to release more NFT collections, while FTX agreed to sponsor the David Ortiz Celebrity Golf Classic and donate to David Ortiz’s Children’s Fund. It is unclear whether the fund will be required to refund donations if they are found to have been made with clients’ money.
Check out our Dirty Money podcast to find out our take on Crypto Crook Sam Bankman-Fried.