Reported by: Edward Ongweso Jr

Over the past few weeks, four civil lawsuits have been filed against Sam Bankman-Fried alleging all manner of fraud, theft, deception, and other crimes. These civil suits are separate from the probes and investigations launched by the Department of Justice, US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, the state of California, and the Bahamas, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodities Future Trading Commission. Still, the lawsuits and the allegations therein—which have not yet been tested in court—represent more problems to come for Bankman-Fried, whose public comments about what he knew, or didn’t, prior to FTX’s sudden implosion this month may well be used against him in court.

The first lawsuit was filed on November 15 in Florida federal court by Edwin Garrison, an FTX investor who applied to have FTX investors certified as a class and the lawsuit to be a class action. Garrison also names a number of high-profile celebrities and public figures (Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, Stephen Curry, the Golden State Warriors, Shaquille O’Neal, Udonis Haslem, David Ortiz, William Trevor Lawrence, Shohei Ohtani, Naomi Osaka, Larry David, and Kevin O’Leary) for their role in promoting FTX in marketing campaigns.

In his complaint, Garrison alleges FTX’s interest-bearing crypto accounts were illegally offered securities, that the company engaged in deceptive and unfair business practices, and that it was engaged in a “fraudulent scheme” that intentionally took advantage of “unsophisticated investors.”

Read full report: https://www.vice.com/amp/en/article/m7gnjp/heres-all-the-lawsuits-against-ftx-so-far