Last November, a number of celebrities became entangled in the imploding cryptocurrency debacle. Crypto markets crashed, and celebrity endorsers of various cryptocurrencies, like FTX, are being sued. FTX was one of the biggest implosions and it had tons of celebrity endorsers, including Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen. Coincidentally, as soon as the crypto market began to falter, suddenly Tom and Gisele had a quickie divorce and Gisele started taking a lot of vacations to Costa Rica. TikToks were made to explain that specific issue, with a catch-all conspiracy that Tom and Gisele were actually hiding and protecting their assets rather than divorcing because of Tom’s football career. I still don’t know, but I suspect that Tom and Gisele had many problems and FTX was one of them. Speaking of, reportedly Tom dumped $84 million into FTX. Yiiiikes.
Advisors to Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen weren’t able to spot any issues with FTX’s underlying financials before the celebrity couple piled cash into the now-bankrupt crypto exchange, the Financial Times has reported. The then-couple spent over $84 million buying 1.8 million shares in Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire after their team found no issues with its financial documentation, according to the report Tuesday.
Brady and Bündchen’s team were extremely diligent and “saw what they believed were legit financials,” an unidentified former FTX employee told the FT.
“People wanted shares. There was some FOMO, but people always saw financials,” the source said.
Owners of FTX shares, including NFL star Brady and international supermodel Bündchen, lost all their investment due to the bankruptcy proceedings. That led to potential major losses for both NFL star Brady and international supermodel Bündchen. The former couple, who divorced in October after 13 years of marriage, both promoted the crypto group.
Brady owned 1.1 million shares in his own name and was a high-profile brand ambassador, even appearing in three commercials for FTX. Bündchen held another 700,000 shares, appeared in one of those ads, and promoted the exchange in an April 2022 edition of Vogue where she discussed “Crypto, Collaboration, And Helping FTX Donate Billions”.
The true extent of the couple’s losses is unknown because FTX was a private company, but Forbes previously estimated that Brady’s stake was worth as much as $45 million.
No, but do you really think that Tom put $84 million into FTX, and Gisele put… what? Something in the vicinity of $50-60 million? And they both lost all of that investment? Here’s the thing… I think different parts of the “Tom and Gisele divorced to protect their assets from the FTX debacle” conspiracy make sense, but not all together. I’m starting to think that FTX was a major factor in the divorce, but it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Do I believe that Tom and Gisele quietly got some or all of their money out before the FTX implosion though? Eh. That’s where the conspiracy theory kind of loses me. But Jesus, I really did not know that Tom and Gisele had thrown so much money into FTX. How stupid. Their advisors are idiots too.
Photos courtesy of Instagram, Backgrid, Avalon Red.
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- The 2019 Hollywood For Science Gala,Image: 415228267, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Gisele Bundchen,Tom Brady, Credit line: Apega / Wenn / Avalon
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- BEVERLY HILLS, LOS ANGELES, CA, USA – FEBRUARY 21: Football quarterback Tom Brady and wife/model Gisele Bundchen arrive at the 2019 Hollywood For Science Gala held at a Private Estate on February 21, 2019 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photo by Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency),Image: 535404458, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289 – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 21: Tom Brady (L) and Gisele Bündchen arrive at the Hollywood For Science Gala at Private Residence on February 21, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. © Joe Sutter, PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Photoshot): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com FEE MUST BE AGREED PRIOR TO USAGE Photograph: © Joe Sutter/PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com,Image: 535421491, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com, Model Release: no, Credit line: Joe Sutter/PacificCoastNews / Avalon
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- Portofino, ITALY – Tom Brady cuddles up to wife Gisele Bunchchen as the couple enjoy very romantic getaway to Portofino. The Brazilian model smiled as Tom leaned in to look at something on her phone as the couple were spotted briefly over the weekend during a casual outing. The pair who have been married for 13 years have been enjoying some couple time together before Tom returns to the field again for his 23rd NFL season after initially announcing his retirement in February. The seven-time Super Bowl champion and five-time Super Bowl MVP announced roughly a month later that he’d changed his mind and would play another season with the Buccaneers. Pictured: Gisele Bundchen, Tom Brady BACKGRID USA 29 JUNE 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: Cobra Team / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Damn, no wonder she’s so keen to get back to work.
I cannot believe anyone was dumb enough or greedy enough to fall for crypto. The explanation is in the name FFS.
Lol I didn’t think about that but you’re right!
It is kind of shocking that they didn’t have a financial advisor to keep them from pouring everything into crypto. But maybe they were laundering some money, too? That’s what crypto is especially good for.
It’s amazing how many otherwise intelligent people fell for crypto. If it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true — no matter what you tell yourself to believe.
I know one person who made money off of crypto: one of my brother’s friends cleared about a million, but this was back in 2017-ish.
The big difference there is that he wasn’t a multi-millionaire football player trying to make even more multi-millions! The greed of some people boggles my mind.
Nice to see greed get its comeuppance.
Right? Like they didn’t have more than enough money to live on and maintain the lifestyle they enjoy?
Greed, man, just blatant greed.
People like that are just asking to get ripped off.
Seriously! I’m no financial genius but since no one can explain crypto and it’s a clearly a scam I can’t believe how dumb they are for pumping that much cash into it. I know many friends that lost a bunch of money too so it’s not just the super rich but it’s clearly a scam. I would think they would have a better financial team around them to sniff it out.
why does one person have that much money?
I call BS on the claim their advisers reviewed financials given that SBF wouldn’t give financials to firms that invested more than Brady. I suspect that the advisors did the classic rationale that if other big players invested so should we.
I have zero sympathy for either of them. They’ll write down the losses against gains for quite some time and they’ll be fine. Their lives will continue to be golden.
I thought they agreed to be paid in FTX in exchange for promo, but didn’t realize they actually put their own money into it. Smh.
Morons. They/he would have been better off putting 84 million into Monopoly money, people actually use that shit.
Zero sympathy.
Brady supposedly net worth $350M. G supposedly $400M.
So T&G lost money on crypto? Who cares?
The 1% is ruining society.
No one needs that level of wealth.
Then we have the Gates, Musk, Woz, Bezos, Geffen, Cruise, Ri, McCartney, Clapton, Springsteen, all the Kardashians, etc., etc. the level of wealth hoarding is obscene.
These celebs are off the top of my head. Count in all the international businessmen, oil people, BRF, on and on.
Don’t get me started on their foundations or charities either.
Mike Rowe is a perfect example..He established the MikRoweWorks Foundation to give scholarships to people to be trained in trades like plumbing, welding, electricians. All fine and good I have donated myself to this foundation. I am still working class myself.
Now, my gripe is I find Mike Rowe has a personal wealth of $35Million. Is he donating from his own money to this foundation? IMO, a minimum of $100K a year should come from him. Write it off. Still a multi-millionaire many times over.
Sorry for this rant. Have a good Tuesday CBers.
I’m with you on extreme wealth, but it’s important to note that those at the VERY top — Musk, Bezos, the Gates, etc — have far more wealth than the entertainers you name. The biggest money is in business.
Maida, I did name the business folks, Geffen, Bezos, etc.
I know their are wealth hoarders in the extreme in every country, and biz has the most of them. But, entertainers such as I mentioned are also wealth hoarders.
I learned that Metallica the heavy metal band has started a foundation to benefit charity, which is admirable. Until I learned the comparatively tiny amount they donate to their foundation vs. their vast personal wealth.
Imagine the amount of help Human Services would be able to provide on 10% of money Tom Cruise has pi**ed away on CoS. Gives me a headache.
Folks love to complain about athletes’ wealth but rarely talk about the amount of money they make for others. The teams in the NFL are worth roughly $91B collectively and Bob Kraft alone is worth $11B. These athletes are making a lot of people a shit ton of money—far more than they’ll ever accrue in their individual lifetimes.
Otherwise, I agree with your assessment of our broken capitalistic culture. I just wish we would talk more about the corporate overlords and shareholders who generally fly under the radar.
If Metallica being greedy wealth hoarders is news to you, you’ve not been paying attention for 26 years. Remember the Napster debacle? Tip of the iceberg. I’m not saying they shouldn’t be paid for their work. But I held no delusions that they’d do anything but take the tax write-offs having one’s own charity allows.
Entertainers don’t bother me as much as industrial CEOs because the product is themselves, not something that built off the backs of an exploited underclass for the most part. They should absolutely be taxed higher, yes, but they aren’t a problem to me the way guys like Bezos and Musk are.
This being said, it does mean I absolutely don’t take them seriously when they blather on about environmental or social causes. Sit down, y’all. I don’t care how many trees you planted in Brazil when climate change means it’ll be burning down twenty years from now thanks to the carbon footprint people like you create with private jets.
Tom: football football football✔️. Brains umm… not so much. Hopefully Giselle wasn’t as stupid with her money but who knows.
Man you can’t put a price on love, it I bet 84 and 50 million could be a price that helps push a divorce I mean my goodness. I never thought Tom was a rocket scientist but Jeez US
The article suggests that they both lost a ton? But they’ll both be fine — it’s the average people who they helped persuade to throw away their money who will suffer.
They dumped how much into pretend, non-FDIC-insured, money? Wow. Just wow.
I understand why working class people got sucked into crypto. It was a way up the ladder because Lord knows companies fight daily to not pay a living wage. But Tom & Giselle, who’s combined net worth as a couple was, close to a billion dollars (if you believe the interwebs)? And, if that’s an exaggeration, I am sure combined they were worth several hundred million, because apparently they could afford to fork over $80 mill to a fledgling currency. They got in on this out of pure greed and stupidity. Good news for them, even if they took a loss, they are still living much better than most. They are fine. Good thing Giselle has her high dollar modeling contracts and Tom his record-setting tv commentating deal to fall back on. As for guesses on why they divorced, this crypto collapse probably didn’t help their marriage.
It’s funny how everyone is like “crypto is obviously a dumb scam” now.
Rewind to a year ago – I couldn’t turn a corner without falling into yet another endless conversation about how it “was the future”… And people LOVED being smugly superior, like they know something smart, something that you were too dumb to get, when you said it was unsustainable.
I mean it was really like watching grown adults tell each other that the emperor looked fabulous, and shushing you as a know-nothing child when you said “but he’s naked!”
I don’t have advanced tech degrees but I do have an EMBA so the bubble was clear
But the condescending way ppl dismissed me was next level. Found out that when FOMO is in play, people HATE to be told that the exciting thing is really not, they’re not missing out. Because then there’s no excitement, no chase. And some ppl live for that, not the result.
Anyway,
I can’t stand Reese Witherspoon anymore after she made it a feminist thing! Like getting into NFTs and crypto is what women should do!
The actor Ben McKenzie was one of the very few pointing out the idiocy of “mining” and the insanity of buying investments that weren’t backed any *anything*.. just literally buying nothing.
At least the Dutch tulip bubble sold real tulips.
Gah!!!
I remember, too.
Many people here we’re calling crypto dumb scam back then also.
I have no tech degree and no business degree but my mom taught accounting and business administration and I took some business classes at some point. The basics, nothing more. Both taught me one thing. Whatever you do, whatever you invest in, if it’s too good to be true, if the return is well above the market average, it probably is a scam. And never invest more than 20% of your savings in anything risky. Even stocks. Because most people don’t actually understand those either. Be prepared to lose it all if you do.
This was good advice for regular people I think. The 20% might be negotiable, now that you can’t get any interest out of a savings account like you could back then. But in general, it’s good advice.
I was debating whether I would have fallen for Madoff’s scam while watching that documentary. I still don’t now. The man was something else.
My dad always said easy money was crooked money. So, any get rich quick scheme always screams scam to me.
I have a degree in photography. But, to paraphrase Brendan Fraser, my mum didn’t raise no idiot. My common sense Spidey antennas were burning at the mere thought of crypto. Seeing who was inventing new currencies and subsequently aligning themselves with them told me all I needed. I’m sorriest for the working class folks who lost what little they had.
Worlds tiniest violin playing for these 2
Hahaha right like I need a special hearing aid to even hear the violin because it is sooo tiny
I’m curious if they actually put that much cash in, or were they given some of the shares in exchange for doing ads.
Either way, it’s a lot of money, but at the same time it’s like their play money, and they played recklessly and foolishly with it. Even a fraction of that could have done so much good elsewhere.
I doubt they put that much cash in. If they’re worth a couple to several hundred million each, that’s a ton of money, but there’s no way they’d have 84 million liquid to invest.
I mean if you follow those stories of those investment company/hedge fond managers…there is some really wild stuff happening and being rich doesn’t mean you always make sound financial business decisions…Usually it’s like, the bigger the gamble, the more slaps in the back you get for being so ‘daring’ and ‘innovative’, until the bubble of illusion burst, you lose some respect, then be welcomed back again as a champ if you come up with a new, shiny promise of big bucks, big wins. Rinse and repeat…
That’s like the greed of those millionaires and billionaires investing with Madoff. Always looking for more, more, more! And investing in something too good to be true in order to stay ahead and richer then anyone else. Can’t cry for you. Sorry. And the little guys who got scammed? Well, you let fantasy override reality and common sense too.
Lots of people lost millions on cellular communication stocks when the tech bubble burst. That doesn’t mean cell phones were a stupid idea or a stupid investment. It’s all about timing and the uncertainty of how new technologies will develop and how they will be used. There’s a lot about the technology which underlies crypto that might be useful, even if the actual currencies are useless. And the idea of an exchange for trading crypto is rational and logical – you just have to make sure it’s run that way and not a Ponzi scheme.
So, I’m not going to call people stupid for investing in something new. What’s not so smart is to bet more than you can afford to lose.
Now I can understand people investing for retirement or matching 401K.
IRL, my brother had a stock split, double, split again.
He at one point had made enough on this to pay off his mortgage, car loans, everything he owned would have been paid for plus 60K to put to future needs, after taxes were deducted.
I said “Hell, Yes. Cash it all in. Pay off everything, before it all goes down. Keep your job but then you can breath a little.”
His wife was convinced it would keep going up.
You know how this turned out, don’t you?
Exactly. Left it in, loss of all the gains plus a good portion of the original investment.
IMO, it’s “money on paper” a paid off mortgage is better in my mind.
When you work manual labor, grow up paycheck to paycheck for decades like I did, nobody is changing my mind on this. My kids can live in this house, contribute a monthly amount to the costs, inherit my house and raise their kids here.
Multi-millionaires get Zero sympathy in my book.
Tom got almost a $1 million PPE loan in 2020 for his “wellness business” and bought an expensive yacht the same year. The loans were supposed to go to small businesses impacted by the pandemic. Cry me a river about his crypto losses.
Dee, damn good point.
Brady should never have taken that PPE money.
The list of celebs and uber-ruch who got these loans is just sickening (and many got way, way more than 1 million). I would love to see a full list printed somewhere. It’s outrageous.
That is disgusting and should be way more publicized.
Black entrepreneurs always talk about how at VC (venture capital) events they’ll watch rich white men walk past them to go THROW money at white boy inventors with the DUMBEST ideas.
I have no sympathy for anyone who dumped their established currency dollars, into a non-established currency with no govt backing and no sign of regulation. If Bankman-Fried was a non-white, non-Stanford grad……
You don’t need a Harvard MBA to know crypto was a damn pyramid scheme. Common sense was all I held on to.