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 simply Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen.
The roster of high-profile buyers who misplaced cash betting on crypto trade FTX additionally included New England Patriots proprietor Robert Kraft and billionaire hedge fund supervisor Paul Tudor Jones, in accordance with courtroom filings launched late Monday.
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Sam Bankman-Fried’s well-documented success at elevating cash and charming buyers prolonged to a extra expansive set of movie star buyers and big-name financers than was beforehand disclosed. FTX went via 4 fundraising rounds to achieve a $32 billion valuation by early final 12 months, earlier than finally spiraling out of business in November.
Bankman-Fried, FTX’s co-founder and former CEO, has pleaded not responsible to a number of prison fees, together with fraud and cash laundering. In December, he was launched on a $250 million bond whereas awaiting trial.
For enterprise backers, FTX represents a lack of historic proportions. Sequoia Capital stated in November that it had marked its funding of over $210 million all the way down to zero. Before former fairness holders can start making an attempt to recoup any of their funding, prospects face an extended street to restoration because the chapter course of winds its means via courtroom and throughout dozens of jurisdictions.
FTX’s enterprise buyers included a bunch of luminaries. Dan Loeb managed over 6.1 million most well-liked shares via Third Point-connected enterprise funds. Rival trade Coinbase held practically 1.3 million most well-liked shares.
Jones, the founding father of Tudor Investment, apparently owned shares via a collection of household trusts. Kraft managed 155,144 shares of most well-liked inventory via beforehand undisclosed investments in FTX.
Brady, who at age 45 is the winningest quarterback in National Football League historical past, was a recognized FTX backer and a pitchman for the corporate. He held frequent inventory within the firm alongside Bündchen. The movie star couple announced their divorce in October after 13 years of marriage.
CNBC has compiled and analyzed the next most well-liked share possession utilizing Delaware chapter courtroom filings.
Series B: July 2021
Despite being known as a Series B increase, this July 2021 fundraising spherical was FTX’s first infusion of outdoor capital, excluding an early funding from Binance that was finally wound down. Investors included Paradigm and Sequoia, in addition to Thoma Bravo and Third Point. The $900 million spherical valued FTX at $18 billion.
Jones, who instructed CNBC in October 2022 that his bitcoin publicity was “minor,” seems to have invested in FTX via a collection of household trusts.
Series B-1: October 2021
Just months later, FTX closed a funding spherical for $420 million, which included lots of the unique Series B backers. The investor listing expanded to incorporate beforehand undisclosed capital from Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai’s household workplace, Blue Pool, amongst others.
Series C: January 2022
As FTX and Bankman-Fried spent tons of of tens of millions of {dollars} on promoting offers and sponsorships, the corporate continued to hunt enterprise cash at a voracious tempo. In January 2022, FTX closed its $400 million Series C spherical at a valuation of $32 billion.
FTX US Series A: January 2022
FTX, which was primarily based within the Bahamas, created FTX US in response to U.S. rules on cryptocurrency buying and selling. Regulators have since alleged that FTX US was separated from the worldwide arm of FTX in identify solely.
In making an attempt to determine its independence, FTX US closed a $400 million funding spherical in January 2022 from buyers together with Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek and Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Vision Fund. Previously undisclosed enterprise backers for the spherical included Kraft and Daniel Och’s household workplace, Willoughby Capital.
According to chapter filings and regulatory complaints, funds and buyer property moved freely among the many FTX entities. Despite being partially regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, FTX US shoppers face an equally arduous course of in chapter courtroom to try to retrieve a few of their cash.
Equity buyers in FTX US, like these in FTX, are observing a zero.
