American pop star Taylor Swift dodged the FTX bullet by simply asking one question—are you offering unregistered securities? This is according to Adam Moskowitz, the lead attorney going after dozens of celebrities that promoted the collapsed digital asset exchange, including basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal.
Moskowitz has launched class-action lawsuits against digital asset companies that users allege offered unregistered securities. He has filed lawsuits against Binance and Voyager, seeking $4 billion in damages from the latter.
The most high-profile lawsuit, however, is against FTX. He has been going after Shaq, comedian and TV personality Larry David, and other celebrities who promoted the bankrupt exchange. The lawyer grabbed headlines for his incessant pursuit of Shaq to serve him court papers. Five months later, he finally served the NBA Hall of Famer outside his Atlanta home.
The one celebrity who dodged the infamous FTX bullet was Taylor Swift, the 12-time Grammy-winning country singer. In a recent interview, Moskowitz revealed that Sam Bankman-Fried was pursuing Taylor to promote the exchange, but she raised concerns about securities violations.
“The one person I found that did that [sought legal advice before working with FTX] was Taylor Swift, in our discovery. [She] actually asked that: Can you tell me that these are not unregistered securities?”
The Financial Times reported last December that Taylor was on the verge of signing a $100 million deal with FTX, but it fell through in the weeks before the exchange collapsed in November.
Moskowitz says that the other celebrities quickly accepted SBF’s millions without due diligence.
“Why did Tom Brady and Larry David agree to take $100 million? The answer has got to be greed.”
Moskowitz further blasted Shaq’s defense, claiming that he was merely a spokesperson and didn’t work with FTX in any other capacity. By stating in the infamous commercial, “I’m all in, are you?” Shaq solicited other investors to put their money in SBF’s exchange, the attorney argues.
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Ethereum, FTX and Tether—who have co-opted the digital asset revolution and turned the industry into a minefield for naïve (and even experienced) players in the market.
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