Report details how much Tom Brady lost in endorsement deal after crypto company collapse

The cryptocurrency fallout continues. The New York Times reported on how Tom Brady and his ex-wife Gisele Bündchen lost the full value of their stocks in embattled company FTX.

In 2021, Brady signed an endorsement deal with the firm, which was founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, for $30 million. Bündchen, the famed supermodel, also signed her own deal valued at $18 million. However, instead of actual money, both deals were in company stock.

Brady and Bündchen, who finalized their divorce in October 2022, are being sued by a group of FTX customers seeking to recoup their losses. The detailed report from NYT's Erin Griffith and David Yaffe-Bellany relays how the collapse of FTX devalued their respective deals.

That same year (2021), Mr. Brady and Ms. Bündchen starred in a $20 million advertising campaign for FTX, with commercials that ran during N.F.L. games. Mr. Brady also posted TikTok videos with Mr. Bankman-Fried from FTX’s headquarters in the Bahamas, where he spoke at a conference in front of hundreds. Backstage, Mr. Bankman-Fried remarked that he could imagine buying a football team someday with Mr. Brady. Ms. Bündchen also appeared at the conference as FTX’s head of environmental and social initiatives.

When FTX collapsed last November, the company’s $32 billion valuation — including Mr. Brady and Ms. Bündchen’s $48 million of shares — plummeted to zero. The couple had also received a small amount of Ethereum, Bitcoin and Solana tokens to trade on the platform, one of the people said, which disappeared in FTX’s bankruptcy.

Brady and Bündchen were two of multiple high-profile public figures who endorsed cryptocurrency companies, firms that were among some of the biggest advertisers and sponsors in sports in 2020 and 2021. From Super Bowl ads to naming rights, it seemed impossible to get away from any promotion of crypto, a digital currency that is exchanged through a decentralized computer network and not directly attached to any bank or government.

However, cryptocurrencies crashed hard throughout 2022, causing shock waves throughout tech, media and banking. FTX, the most famed company at the time, went bankrupt in December. Furthering the company's problems was that Bankman-Fried was arrested and charged with multiple counts of fraud by federal prosecutors.

Sports figures were not the only ones to get burned by the hype of crypto — franchises and leagues did too. Major League Baseball probably went further into the unregulated currency than any other sports entity and ended its five-year deal with FTX last winter. The Miami Heat scrambled for a new naming rights sponsor for its arena this past spring, while it's not clear what will happen to the name of the former STAPLES Center/Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.