FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried paid quarterback great Tom Brady at a staggering rate to promote his crypto exchange, according to the author of “Going Infinite,” a new book on the mogul. (Watch the video below.)
Author and financial journalist Michael Lewis said he had access to internal documents while writing his book and reported this nugget about “SBF” and the pro athletes who endorsed FTX on Sunday’s “60 Minutes.”
“He paid Tom Brady $55 million for 20 hours a year for three years,” Lewis said. “He paid Steph Curry $35 million for [the] same thing for three years.”
But the fallen tycoon’s relationship with Brady wasn’t strictly about making commercials and the football player’s work as a brand ambassador, Lewis said.
“Tom Brady, I think, adored him. I think Tom Brady thought he was just a really interesting person,” the author surmised. “I think he liked to hear what he had to say.”
“And [Bankman-Fried] really liked Tom Brady,” Lewis added. “And Sam wasn’t, like, a big sports person. So it was funny to watch that interaction. It was like, ‘These two people actually get along.’ It’s like the class nerd and the quarterback.”
Brady, who retired after the 2022 NFL season, and his now ex-wife Gisele Bündchen reportedly lost $48 million in shares in the crypto exchange, The New York Times reported.
They were sued, along with other celebrities, for aggressively marketing the once-mighty FTX that cost investors billions.
Bankman-Fried may pay a criminal price for the collapse.
He’s now standing trial on charges that include wire fraud, money laundering and other financial crimes in bilking investors out of billions through his company, which was valued at $32 billion before imploding in 2022.