Jury sees FTX ads with Tom Brady, Larry David, as fraud case is rolled out against Sam Bankman-Fried
Splashy advertising featuring football star Tom Brady and comedian Larry David was shown to jurors as prosecutors launched a historic fraud case against cryptocurrency maven Sam Bankman-Fried
NEW YORK — Splashy advertisements featuring football star Tom Brady and comedian Larry David were among the first evidence seen by jurors Wednesday as prosecutors launched a historic fraud case against cryptocurrency maven Sam Bankman-Fried, depicting him as a villain who portrayed himself as the Robin Hood of the crypto world.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Rehn said in his opening statement in Manhattan federal court that it was only a year ago that Bankman-Fried seemed to be “on top of the world,” operating the multibillion dollar company he founded, FTX, a seemingly pioneering cryptocurrency trading platform.
Rehn said the 31-year-old lived in a $30 million apartment in the Bahamas, jetted around the world on private planes, socialized with celebrities and spent billions of dollars as he flaunted power and made big political donations to gain influence in Washington over cryptocurrency regulation.
The prosecutor, though, said that the son of two Stanford law professors was not as he seemed.
“Sam Bankman-Fried was committing a massive fraud by taking billions of dollars from thousands of victims,” Rehn said. When his businesses were collapsing, he backdated documents and tried to cover up his crimes by deleting messages and ordering employees to automatically delete all messages every month, the prosecutor said.
Adam Yedidia, one of the trial's first witnesses, supported the government's claims when he testified that he met Bankman-Fried and they became “longtime friends” when they were both students at the Massachusetts
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