Bankman-Fried, Golden State Warriors hit by lawsuit over FTX's alleged false advertising

Quick Take

  • A new lawsuit takes aim at crypto exchange FTX’s sports endorsements. 

A new lawsuit looks to represent FTX's international users using California's laws against false advertising. 

In a case filed in a district court in San Francisco, Canadian citizen Elliott Lam is suing FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, and the Golden State Warriors.

Lam v. Bankman-Fried takes aim at FTX's massive advertising blitz, including sponsorship deals with stadiums and professional sports teams, particularly the Golden State Warriors. The case argues that the ad campaign presented FTX and, particularly, its yield-bearing accounts, or YBAs, as safe investments.

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"Defendants’ claims that YBAs and FTX were viable and safe for investing in crypto are untrue due to the house of cards nature of FTX’s business and movement of funds, as evidenced by the immense collapse in fall 2022," the complaint reads. The case leans particularly heavily on California's False Advertising Law, which may explain why it takes aim at the Golden State Warriors rather than, say, the Miami Heat or the Washington Capitals.

The case is not the first of its kind. Last week, another class-action targeted celebrities who endorsed FTX, including Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, Larry David and Steph Curry, the Warriors' star point guard. 


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About Author

Kollen Post is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things policy and geopolitics from Washington, DC. That includes legislation and regulation, securities law and money laundering, cyber warfare, corruption, CBDCs, and blockchain’s role in the developing world. He speaks Russian and Arabic. You can send him leads at [email protected].

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