Tom Brady, Steph Curry under investigation in Texas for FTX endorsements

Famed NFL quarterback Tom Brady and NBA star Steph Curry are among a group of celebrities under investigation by a Texas regulator for possible violations of securities laws related to their promotion of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX. 

Joe Rotunda, the director of enforcement for the Texas State Securities Board, told Bloomberg in an interview on Monday that the board is reviewing payments that Brady, Curry and others received to publicize their support for FTX, what disclosures they made and their accessibility to retail investors. 

“We are taking a close look at them,” Rotunda said. 

The Hill has reached out to the Texas State Securities Board for more information.

The report comes one week after an investor filed a class-action lawsuit against FTX, its former CEO and celebrities who promoted the exchange like Brady, Curry, comedian Larry David and NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal.

The investor argued that those named in the lawsuit made “misrepresentations and omissions” that led him and others to invest in the company. 

FTX filed for bankruptcy and its CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, resigned earlier this month after a market crash caused investors to collectively lose billions of dollars. Up to 1 million users could face losses. 

The Hill has reached out to Brady and Curry for comment. 

Bloomberg reported that state-level investigations are less high-profile than those conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but they can still lead to major fines. 

Rotunda said that Texas is in communication with other states as it investigates the situation with FTX, but he does not know if the SEC is looking into the celebrity endorsements as part of an investigation it launched into the crypto exchange.

—Updated at 3:10 p.m.