FTX Wants to Retrieve Money Paid to Shaquille O’Neal, Naomi Osaka: Report

The now-bankrupt crypto exchange, which actually has intentions of restarting operations at some point, reportedly wants to get some of the money it paid out to former professional athletes and teams. promotes it.

Some of the names, according to Bloomberg, include Shaquille O’Neal and Naomi Osaka, but Tom Brady was not mentioned.

• During its peak in 2021, FTX was on a roll, securing several deals to acquire the naming rights of arenas, as well as being sponsored by many celebrities and professional athletes. Of course, the exchange has to pay for that.
• Some of the most famous names include Shaquille O’Neal, Steph Curry, and Naomi Osaka. Tom Brady has a different approach, as he and his ex-wife actually took an equity stake in the exchange.
• The strong and rapid collapse of FTX in late 2022, however, changed everything not only for the company, founders, and employees but also for the aforementioned offers. Some even find themselves serving class action lawsuits.
• The new executives of FTX, under CEO John J. Ray III, promoted some tactics on how to redeem some of the money owed by the company to its thousands of creditors, while the founder – SBF – believed to be the main cause of the collapse, awaits his trial.
• According to a Bloomberg report, FTX Group now wants to get some of the funds that O’Neal, Osaka, and others have been paying for their promotions over the years.
• The company’s hired financial advisers are reviewing whether the payments are recoverable in Chapter 11. Court documents show the exchange described them as “prepayments related to advertising or sponsorship deals.”

“The crypto platform disclosed that almost $4.9 million was spent on MLB, which at one time required umpires to wear patches with the FTX logo, and at least $12.2 million related to partnership agreements with Formula 1 racing team Mercedes-AMG Petronas The platform revealed the $3.4 million payment to the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and nearly $242,000 in payments to star player Stephen Curry’s business, SC30 Inc. – read the report.