NFL quarterback Trevor Lawrence, alongside YouTube influencers Kevin Paffrath and Tom Nash, has agreed to settle a lawsuit associated to their endorsement of the now-defunct FTX cryptocurrency alternate, Bloomberg reported on Sept. 16, citing a court docket submitting.
The phrases of the settlement stay undisclosed. These settlements mark the primary resolutions amongst over a dozen celebrities and companies accused of helping Sam Bankman-Fried, the founding father of FTX, in duping buyers. Bankman-Fried is about to face his prison trial in Manhattan subsequent month.
Different high-profile people, together with Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, Steph Curry, Shaquille O’Neal, and Larry David, who endorsed FTX, are additionally going through lawsuits. These class-action fits are consolidated in a federal court docket in Miami, together with complaints towards enterprise capital and personal fairness companies that invested in FTX, comparable to Sequoia Capital and Thoma Bravo.
FTX garnered vital consideration by means of superstar endorsements, together with naming rights to the Miami Warmth’s enviornment and a Tremendous Bowl industrial that includes Larry David. Legal professionals representing the plaintiffs within the $1 billion case towards endorsers advised Bloomberg that they’re “engaged in ongoing confidential, settlement discussions” with different defendants, and there’s a “probability that different FTX settlements might be reached.”
The lawsuit alleges that FTX’s superstar endorsements contributed to the platform’s rise however asserts that the endorsers didn’t disclose particulars of their offers and compensation to buyers. On the time of submitting, the lawsuit said:
“Although FTX paid Defendants handsomely to push its model and encourage their followers to speculate, Defendants didn’t disclose the character and scope of their sponsorships and/or endorsement offers, funds and compensation, nor conduct enough (if any) due diligence.”
Lawrence, the primary general NFL draft choose in 2021, signed an endorsement cope with FTX, receiving a $500,000 fee in cryptocurrency. Kevin Paffrath, often called a “landlord influencer,” promoted FTX on his YouTube channel, “Meet Kevin,” for which he was allegedly paid $2,500 for every point out of the platform.
Legal professionals for the endorsers argue that the ads didn’t encourage customers to really deposit cash into FTX accounts. Furthermore, the attorneys keep that the endorsers had no hand within the alleged “FTX’s misappropriation and mismanagement.”
After FTX collapsed in November 2022, Paffrath and Nash eliminated their FTX endorsements from their YouTube channels and issued apologies.
