The world of crypto promises dizzying highs but also delivers devastating lows. Few public figures have embodied this rollercoaster quite like Tom Brady. The retired NFL quarterback, celebrated for his seven Super Bowl titles with the New England Patriots and later the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, stepped into the volatile realm of digital money as a prominent face for cryptocurrency company FTX. But did this high-profile endorsement cost him a staggering $30 million? The FTX collapse has certainly put his, and other celebrity endorsers', financial fortunes and public image into sharp focus.
The All-Star Endorsement and the Rise of a Crypto Giant
At the top of the crypto boom in 2021, FTX added Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen to its list of well-known endorsers. Crypto giant FTX used to partner with many big names in both sports and entertainment. Besides Brady and Gisele Bündchen, the FTX ambassadors included Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry (Steph Curry), tennis player Naomi Osaka, comedian Larry David, basketball Hall of Fame member Shaquille O'Neal (Shaquille O'Neal) and former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz. They were seen in expensive ads and marketing projects, inviting people to participate in FTX offerings on the cryptocurrency platform.
Unlike most celebrities, Brady didn’t just endorse FTX but also took an equity stake in the business. Because of this, some of his compensation depended on the company’s share price.
The FTX Collapse: A Cascade of Fraud and Legal Peril
The meteoric rise of FTX under its former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (Sam), came to a screeching halt in November 2022 when FTX filed for bankruptcy. The crypto giant imploded amidst revelations of massive fraud and the alleged misuse of customer funds. Sam Bankman-Fried was subsequently arrested and faced a barrage of charges, including multiple counts of fraud and criminal conspiracy in the Southern District of New York. He was later convicted and sentenced for orchestrating one of the largest financial frauds in history.
In the wake of the FTX collapse, a class action lawsuit was promptly filed in Florida against celebrity endorsers, including Tom Brady, his wife Gisele, Larry David, Naomi Osaka, and Stephen Curry. The lawsuit alleged that these public figures misled investors by promoting FTX without adequately disclosing their compensation or the inherent risks of crypto. The FTX case highlighted the substantial legal peril faced by those who leveraged their fame to promote what turned out to be a fraudulent enterprise.
Brady's Financial Hit: The $30 Million Question
Did Tom Brady really lose almost $30 million from trading cryptocurrencies? According to reports from The New York Times and others, a large part of Brady’s FTX compensation was $30 million in FTX stock. According to reports, Gisele Bündchen got $18 million worth of FTX stock. Because FTX filed for bankruptcy, these shares quickly dropped in value to zero.
While Brady didn’t directly lose the $30 million from his football contract, what he received in FTX stock (including equity shares) lost its entire monetary value. This is a significant financial blow because he supported the now-closed cryptocurrency exchange. Having company shares or crypto depends the fate of your wealth on the company.
The Broader Lessons for Investors and Celebrities
People will draw lessons from Tom Brady's crypto and FTX for years to come. It highlights for investors why doing research and spotting potential pitfalls is important when choosing where to invest in crypto. Even if a crypto task is famous, that doesn’t protect its outcomes or safety.
By endorsing FTX, celebrities discovered the major legal and reputation issues that follow from advertising unapproved or illegal companies. Although May 2025’s ruling in federal court dismissed the main allegations against Brady, Bündchen, and the others, finding them not guilty of intended deception, Florida’s state securities laws allowed certain claims to go forward or were allowed to be updated. Consequently, the lawsuits for Brady and Gisele Bündchen (and other famous endorsers) aren’t done, which continues to prove that celebrities should be careful using their fame to guide how people use their money. Judge Lewis Kaplan’s conviction and sentencing of Sam Bankman-Fried underline how serious the fraud charges against FTX were.
