Lawsuits against FTX’s financial backers and celebrity endorsers by customers of the failed cryptocurrency exchange have been consolidated before a single federal judge in Florida, Bloomberg News reported. A judicial panel on Monday ordered the creation of a multi-district litigation before U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore in Miami, noting that the company had its U.S. headquarters there before filing for bankruptcy. Customers have filed several class actions against venture capital and private-equity firms, including Sequoia Capital and Thoma Bravo, that invested in FTX, claiming they enabled co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who is facing fraud charges stemming from the exchange’s collapse. Celebrities that endorsed FTX, including Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, Shaquille O’Neal and Larry David, have also been sued. FTX itself has been protected from litigation since its November chapter 11 filing in Delaware, but that stay doesn’t apply to third parties that allegedly facilitated the exchange’s actions. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to a 13-count indictment, part of which alleges he orchestrated a scheme to transfer billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to Alameda Research, an affiliated hedge fund, for risky trades and personal use.
