FTX stakes held by Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen revealed in court docs

NFL legend Tom Brady and ex-wife Gisele Bündchen were among FTX’s largest individual equity holders before the doomed crypto site’s collapse into bankruptcy, court filings revealed Tuesday.

FTX shares held by Brady, Bündchen and other celebrity backers are now essentially worthless as officials scramble to salvage remaining assets and attempt to make jilted customers financially whole.

Brady, 45, owns more than 1.1 million common shares of FTX, according to a list of equity holders released in bankruptcy court. Bündchen has more than 686,000 common shares. The pair finalized their divorce last year.

FTX is a privately held firm and the exact value of the equity stakes held by Brady, Bündchen and other investors could not immediately be determined, but their value was likely substantial. FTX drew a whopping $32 billion valuation in January 2021, just months before its downfall.

In November, Forbes estimated that, on paper, Brady’s stake was worth roughly $45 million and Bündchen’s stake was worth about $25 million. The outlet based its assertions on documents that Bankman-Fried once provided to Forbes.

Other notable entities listed among FTX’s equity holders included KPC Venture Capital, a firm tied to Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the NFL’s New England Patriots.

KPC Venture Capital owns more than 110,000 Series B preferred shares in FTX’s main platform, as well as 479,000 common shares and 43,545 Series A preferred shares in West Realm Shires, the entity that controls FTX’s US-based operation.

Like all individuals and entities caught up in FTX’s collapse, shareholders face an uphill battle to recover their losses. Under US bankruptcy law, customers, suppliers and other creditors are entitled to proceeds before shareholders.  

Additional FTX stakeholders include NBA player Udonis Haslem, the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund and Wall Street firms such as Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global and Thoma Bravo.

Brady and Bündchen played a key role as FTX brand ambassadors, at one point appearing in a commercial in which they urged a series of everyday people such as plumbers and doctors to invest in crypto. The former couple received equity stakes in exchange for their promotional efforts.

Last year, Bündchen appeared alongside disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried at the Salt Crypto Bahamas Conference, where they shared the stage to discuss sustainability efforts in the cryptocurrency industry.

Brady and Bündchen topped a list of high-profile FTX backers who were named as defendants in a class action lawsuit on behalf of customers who lost money in the bankruptcy.

In the days after FTX’s bankruptcy, Brady quietly scrubbed tweets in which he promoted the company.

Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to eight federal charges. The feds have accused him of overseeing a massive fraud and bilking customers out of billions of dollars.