More troubles for Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen

The last few months have not been easy for Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen. The darling couple officially divorced in October 2022 after months where their relationship was anything but smooth.

Now the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback and the Brazilian supermodel could lose millions of dollars. Indeed, less than a year after Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen appeared in a series of ads for FTX during the Super Bowl (February 2022), the former couple became one of the main shareholders of the company, which is now in bankruptcy.

According to bankruptcy court documents filed earlier this week, Tom Brady owns 1.1 million shares of FTX common stock, while Gisele Bündchen owns 686,000.

When FTX, a centralized cryptocurrency marketplace founded in May 2019 by Sam Bankman-Fried, was at its peak, the privately held company was valued at about $32 billion (US). Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen could then dream of the millions the company would make for them.

But the two stars, like many investors, are now disillusioned by the collapse of their investments.

Whatever Brady and Bündchen paid for their holdings, they are almost certain to see their positions completely wiped out. (Court documents did not reveal what the investors paid for their shares or when they were acquired.)

Recall that when a company goes bankrupt, shareholders are usually the last to get their money back. U.S. bankruptcy laws stipulate that creditors – in FTX’s case, customers who had deposited money on the platform – must be paid back first.

Under these conditions, Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen are likely to see that money melt away like snow in the sun.

Last week, Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to eight federal counts of wire fraud, conspiracy and campaign finance violations.

Federal prosecutors accuse the 30-year-old entrepreneur of stealing funds from FTX clients to cover excessive losses at his hedge fund, Alameda. They also claim he used the funds to finance a lavish lifestyle for himself and his employees.