The reigning champions of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Golden State Warriors, are being charged with promoting the crypto exchange FTX. The now-bankrupt crypto exchange was allegedly promoted fraudulently, according to prosecutors.
Lawsuit has started
The class action lawsuit was filed by a Canadian citizen, Elliott Lam, in federal court in San Francisco. He allegedly did this on behalf of “thousands, if not millions” of people outside the US trading on FTX’s platform.
FTX founder am Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison, who ran Bankman-Fried’s trading company Alameda Research, are among those blamed. The Warriors had declared FTX as their official cryptocurrency platform last December. Last December, the Warriors had declared FTX as their official cryptocurrency platform. This was one of the first deals of its kind in the sports industry.
According to Lam, the defendants allegedly falsely claimed that FTX was a “viable and safe way to invest in crypto”. With this they would try to mislead people to invest there.
The lawsuit seeks damages under California consumer law for customers outside the United States with FTX revenue-bearing accounts. Lam said he lost $750,000 in his account.
Warriors also defendant
The Warriors are also defendants in a new lawsuit filed Nov. 16 in Miami by US-based FTX clients. They are seeking damages from various celebrities such as Warriors guard Stephen Curry, quarterback Tom Brady, comedian Larry David and tennis player Naomi Osaka. According to published reports, the Warriors have already paused promotions related to FTX.
Another NBA team, the Miami Heat, said on Nov. 11 that it would drop the FTX name from its arena and seek a new name sponsor. The Warriors team has stated that they are not discussing any pending legal matters. They do not want to comment further on the lawsuit at this time. It remains to be seen what the verdict will be.