FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves the courthouse following his arraignment in New York City on December 22, 2022.
Ed Jones | Afp | Getty Images
It wasn't just Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen.
The roster of high-profile investors who lost money betting on crypto exchange FTX also included New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones, according to court filings released late Monday.
Sam Bankman-Fried's well-documented success at raising money and charming investors extended to a more expansive set of celebrity investors and big-name financers than was previously disclosed. FTX went through four fundraising rounds to reach a $32 billion valuation by early last year, before ultimately spiraling into bankruptcy in November.
Bankman-Fried, FTX's co-founder and former CEO, has pleaded not guilty to multiple criminal charges, including fraud and money laundering. In December, he was released on a $250 million bond while awaiting trial.
For venture backers, FTX represents a loss of historic proportions. Sequoia Capital said in November that it had marked its investment of over $210 million down to zero. Before former equity holders can begin trying to recoup any of their investment, customers face a long road to recovery as the bankruptcy process winds its way through court and across dozens of jurisdictions.
FTX's venture investors included a host of luminaries. Dan Loeb controlled over 6.1 million preferred shares through Third Point-connected venture funds. Rival exchange Coinbase held nearly 1.3 million preferred shares.
Jones, the founder of Tudor Investment, apparently owned shares through a series of family trusts. Kraft controlled 155,144 shares of preferred stock through previously undisclosed investments in FTX.
Brady, who at age 45 is the winningest quarterback in National Football League history, was a known FTX backer and a pitchman for the company. He held common stock in the company alongside Bündchen. The celebrity couple announced their divorce in October after 13 years of marriage.
CNBC has compiled and analyzed the following preferred share ownership using Delaware bankruptcy court filings.
Series B: July 2021
Despite being called a Series B raise, this July 2021 fundraising round was FTX's first infusion of outside capital, excluding an early investment from Binance that was ultimately wound down. Investors included Paradigm and Sequoia, as well as Thoma Bravo and Third Point. The $900 million round valued FTX at $18 billion.
Jones, who told CNBC in October 2022 that his bitcoin exposure was "minor," appears to have invested in FTX through a series of family trusts.
Series B-1: October 2021
Just months later, FTX closed a funding round for $420 million, which included many of the original Series B backers. The investor list expanded to include previously undisclosed capital from Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai's family office, Blue Pool, among others.
Series C: January 2022
As FTX and Bankman-Fried spent hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising deals and sponsorships, the company continued to seek venture money at a voracious pace. In January 2022, FTX closed its $400 million Series C round at a valuation of $32 billion.
FTX US Series A: January 2022
FTX, which was based in the Bahamas, created FTX US in response to U.S. regulations on cryptocurrency trading. Regulators have since alleged that FTX US was separated from the international arm of FTX in name only.
In trying to establish its independence, FTX US closed a $400 million funding round in January 2022 from investors including Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek and Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Vision Fund. Previously undisclosed venture backers for the round included Kraft and Daniel Och's family office, Willoughby Capital.
According to bankruptcy filings and regulatory complaints, funds and customer assets moved freely among the FTX entities. Despite being partially regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, FTX US clients face an equally arduous process in bankruptcy court to try and retrieve some of their money.
Equity investors in FTX US, like those in FTX, are staring at a zero.
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FAQs
FTX's venture backers included Patriots owner Robert Kraft and billionaire Paul Tudor Jones, new filings show. FTX's shareholders included entities connected to New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and hedge fund titan Paul Tudor Jones.
Who are the investors in the FTX list? ›
Despite these concerns, FTX secured significant investments from venture capitalists (VCs) like Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, Thoma Bravo, SoftBank, and Paul Tudor Jones. They have praised FTX's CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, and invested billions, valuing the exchange at over $25 billion in February 2023.
Who were FTX's major shareholders? ›
FTX shareholders get zilch
Millions of shares were held by Tiger Global management, the Ontario teachers' pension plan, Sequoia Capital, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, NFL quarterback legend Tom Brady and his ex-wife Gisele Bündchen, who both advertised for the company.
Who backed FTX? ›
In July 2021, the venture raised $900 million at an $18 billion valuation from over 60 investors, including Softbank, Sequoia Capital, and other firms.
Why did FTX collapse? ›
FTX crashed due to mismanagement of funds, lack of liquidity and the large volume of withdrawals. Binance announced it would buy FTX to prevent a larger market crash, but quickly bailed out of the deal as more news reports of mishandled customer funds surfaced.
What celebrities invested in FTX? ›
These celebrity endorsers include supermodel Gisele Bündchen, NBA star Stephen Curry, tennis phenom Naomi Osaka, former baseball superstar David “Big Papi” Ortiz, and Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary. They are all implicated for appearing in paid advertising campaigns and endorsing the exchange.
How is Tom Brady connected to FTX? ›
Brady, who appeared in TV ads with his then-wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, has said his promotional efforts on behalf of FTX didn't involve the sale or solicitation of the alleged securities, and that he had no knowledge of FTX's fraud.
Who are the top 10 investors in FTX? ›
Major FTX shareholders included Dan Loeb's Third Point, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, Thoma Bravo, Softbank, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Temasek, Tiger Global Management and Coinbase, a crypto exchange competitor to FTX.
Has anyone gotten their money back from FTX? ›
FTX customers will get their money back and more—but the biggest winners are bankruptcy traders. Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, is serving a 25-year sentence. In a rare outcome for bankruptcy, customers of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX will recover all of their money—and then some.
Who lost money in crypto? ›
From the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) and Gary Wang's FTX to the fall of Binance's Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the cryptocurrency industry has witnessed some of the biggest pitfalls in the last couple of years, with a number of notable individuals losing millions if not billions of dollars-worth in crypto.
FTX said in a court filing late Tuesday that it owes about $11.2 billion to its creditors. The exchange estimates that it has between $14.5 billion and $16.3 billion to distribute to them.
Who are the biggest FTX losers? ›
Some of the biggest losers in the collapse were likely investors who had invested in multiple rounds at high valuations, including SoftBank, New York-based Insight Partners, Singapore-based Temasek Holdings and Tiger Global Management. Prior to the collapse, 30-year-old Bankman-Fried was considered a wunderkind.
Who bought FTX debt? ›
Hedge funds including Diameter Capital Partners, Canyon Partners and Farallon Capital Management scooped up an $874.5 million obligation FTX owed to BlockFi Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, marking the largest trade to-date in the surging market for debt tied to Sam Bankman-Fried's fraud-tainted ...
Where did the FTX money go? ›
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and senior staff spent customer funds on technology investments, luxury real estate and political contributions, among other things. The missing funds are at the heart of Bankman-Fried's criminal trial, which kicked off in Manhattan federal court this week.
Who are the biggest celebrity investors in FTX? ›
To get a sense of then and now, we used Crunchbase data to compare the investments of several of the most famous names associated with crypto. We focused on FTX promoters to start, which includes sports superstars Shaquille O'Neal, Tom Brady, Naomi Osaka and Stephen Curry.
Who are FTX biggest creditors? ›
FTX is now at the center of a massive fraud investigation. Also included in the creditors list are media companies, such as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, commercial airliners, including American, United, Southwest and Spirit, as well as several Big Tech players, including Netflix, Apple and Meta.
Who are the big losers of FTX? ›
Some of the biggest losers in the collapse were likely investors who had invested in multiple rounds at high valuations, including SoftBank, New York-based Insight Partners, Singapore-based Temasek Holdings and Tiger Global Management. Prior to the collapse, 30-year-old Bankman-Fried was considered a wunderkind.
Who is the largest customer of FTX? ›
SBF and a couple of his associates, one of whom was the CEO of Alameda, a trading firm SBF co-founded and FTX's largest customer, were criminally charged with multiple counts of fraud. SBF plead not guilty while his associates plead guilty.
