Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is being mocked for investing big in FTX, a cryptocurrency company that is now being accused of financial crimes.
As the Twitter empire falls apart due to resignations, questionable terminations and a verification meme-a-thon, there’s another swift tech scandal that has massive financial implications.
Within a week, cryptocurrency company FTX filed chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday, with reports indicating that the company doesn’t possess the funds to reimburse investors.
This intersects with the sports world, where FTX has landed major partnerships that helped to solidify their reputation. The company won the naming rights to the Miami Heat’s arena and counts Tom Brady and Steph Curry among its celebrity investors. According to MarketWatch’s Weston Blasi, “Brady served as an ambassador for the company and Bündchen was FTX’s Environmental & Social Initiatives Advisor.”
With Brady, who has filmed commercials for FTX and shared social media clips with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, the public discourse around Brady’s most recent loss is aghast by how much Brady may have sunk into FTX.
For those looking for some quick insight into the crypto catastrophe, here’s a 90-second explanation of the situation.
I could talk about the FTX collapse for hours on end. But there's no time! Here's the whole awful glorious mess crammed into 99 seconds. #FTX #FTXCRASH #MelonHead pic.twitter.com/2lqq4rASu1
— Nobody Special (@JG_Nuke) November 11, 2022
Las September, Brady and ex-wife Gisele Bündchen starred in an FTX commercial that hasn’t aged well amid recent developments.
This commercial with Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen, encouraging their friends to use FTX, came out last September. pic.twitter.com/SuJamuWcmc
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) November 8, 2022
The first time I ever heard of FTX was when I saw the Tom Brady commercial. I've been in crypto since 2013. Brady was used to legitimize this thing that came out of nowhere. I'm betting dimes to donuts the government was behind this from the word GO.
— Digital Asset Investor.XRP (@digitalassetbuy) November 12, 2022
Tom Brady flamed online for losing millions in FTX bankruptcy cryptocurrency scandal
With reports suggesting that the couple invested their combined $650 million fortune into FTX earlier this year, some Twitter users are positing that Brady won’t be able to retire after losing millions in a ponzi scheme.
tom brady gonna be playing football into his 50s now pic.twitter.com/4e0bmSO0Ox
— gainzy (@gainzy222) November 9, 2022
Tom Brady playing to recover his FTX investment (colorized 2045) pic.twitter.com/t7QT1VoVA5
— AlgoFlows | Futures, Equities & Crypto (@algoflows) November 9, 2022
Tom Brady after his FTX equity stake got zero’d pic.twitter.com/RAXmEzZjAP
— Masa Capital (@MasaSonCap) November 9, 2022
The entire situation is giving Wolf of Wall Street energy, and an appropriate audio clipping of Brady asking for Bankman-Fried now doubles as a meme.
The name of the company is FTX. It’s a cutting edge high tech cryptocurrency exchange based in the Bahamas backed by Tom Brady with its billionaire CEO constantly working together with regulators in DC pic.twitter.com/TkBgRssWxg
— Nik (@nikcantmine) November 8, 2022
Then: “Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen put their $650 million fortune into maximizing their stake in #FTX cryptocurrency”
— Whale (@WhaleChart) November 9, 2022
Now: pic.twitter.com/U9qPrBia7K
One financial investor decided to count up Brady’s losses in recent months, which now includes the fallout of the FTX disaster.
I will give it a try....
— Chet "Giving out Keys To Streamers" Faliszek (@chetfaliszek) November 10, 2022
Tom Brady's family just lost an estimated $650 million investment because FTX's ponzi scheme run by one of the "Crypto Leaders" just collapsed.
So on one hand this is pretty funny... on the other hand... it's really funny. https://t.co/80Bqd4Mk2F
Others joke that the FTX collapse underscores a conspiracy theory that the disaster is the reason Brady and Bündchen filed for divorce.
New conspiracy theory: Tom Brady and Gisele’s divorce is mostly due to the collapse of FTX.
— Alex Friedman 🤠 (@heyalexfriedman) November 10, 2022
Tom reeled Gisele in on it. As advisors they found out it’s on the brink of collapse weeks ago. Gisele is like “wtf Tom did we just potentially lose $650m?”
While it’s unknown how Brady is processing the situation, what can be assumed is that this is exactly the kind of distraction that could fracture Brady’s laser-focus before facing the Seahawks in Munich.