Shame on the celeb crypto grifters like Tom, Gisele and Larry David — who promoted FTX without a thought for the money their fans may lose PIERS

We should have seen it coming.

Someone called “Bankman-Fried” is probably not the best guy to trust with your money.

Especially given he’s just 30 years old, looks like a Fyre Festival committee member, slobs around in the tax-free Bahamas in his shorts and sandals, and until a few days ago, reigned supreme in a financial world dubbed a delusional “rat poison” by the world’s greatest businessman, Warren Buffett.

Unfathomably, Sam Bankman-Fried managed to build a cryptocurrency exchange empire, FTX, which became the third-biggest in the world with a value of $32 billion before it all came crashing down last week — leaving up to a million people facing a potential wipeout on their investment.

How did he do this?

Well, largely by recruiting all sorts of celebrities to endorse his risky business, led by NFL star Tom Brady and his estranged wife, Gisele Bündchen, basketball stars Shaquille O’Neal and Steph Curry, tennis star Naomi Osaka and comedian Larry David, who even appeared in a lavish Super Bowl ad for investing in FTX.

I was there in LA’s SoFi stadium to see the commercial in which David dismissed some of humanity’s great innovations, including the wheel (“one of the worst ideas I’ve ever heard”), the light bulb (“it stinks”) and even the Declaration of Independence (“stupid people vote??”).

It closed with David also dismissing the chance to invest in FTX (“I don’t think so … and I’m never wrong about this stuff”), and then a warning flashed up: “Don’t be like Larry. Don’t miss out on crypto, the next big thing, FTX.”

Everyone laughed, including me.

But those who took that advice won’t be laughing today.

Nor will Larry David, as he and the other big-name FTX ambassadors are all facing a class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday that alleges they gave credibility to the exchange and are therefore as guilty as Bankman-Fried.


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