Taylor Swift signed $100 million FTX deal only for Sam Bankman-Fried to pull out, report says

A new report has corrected a narrative that first surfaced in April surrounding superstar singer Taylor Swift’s dealings with Sam Bankman-Fried’s collapsed crypto exchange FTX. 

Lawyer Adam Moskowitz, who is leading a class action lawsuit against celebrities who endorsed FTX, said in an interview in the Spring that Swift backed out of a $100 million tour sponsorship deal with FTX after questioning cryptocurrencies’ status as unregistered securities.

This prompted a slew of headlines congratulating Swift for sidestepping the financial mess that FTX became, many citing her father’s career in finance as helping to guide her through the decision-making process. 

However, in a new feature, the New York Times reports that the Bad Blood singer did in fact sign a $100 million deal with Bankman-Fried only for him to back out, something that left her and her team ‘frustrated and disappointed.’ 

Moskowitz told the Times this week that he didn’t know the intricacies of Swift’s interaction with Bankman-Fried.

A new report from the New York Times says that it was actually Sam Bankman-Fried who backed out of the deal at the last minute

In a podcast interview in April, Moskowitz had said that Swift backed out of any deal with FTX over her questions regarding unregistered securities.  

According to the Times, negotiations between Swift and FTX representatives lasted for around six months as the two camps discussed a number of promotional ideas before landing on the idea of the company sponsoring her Eras Tour, which is predicted to be the first ever $1 billion grossing tour. 

Moskowitz made his remarks during an appearance on The Scoop podcast with David Chaparro. 

‘The one person I found that did that was Taylor Swift. In our discovery, Taylor Swift actually asked them, ‘Can you tell me that these are not unregistered securities?” Moskowitz said in an interview about his lawsuit against FTX. 

Among those who chimed in on the story was Twitter owner Elon Musk. ‘Taylor is smart and her father is a well-regarded investment banker,’ the South African tweeted. 

‘I have an excellent father, his strength is making me stronger,’ Swift sang on her track The Best Day. 

Swift’s father, Scott, worked for Merrill Lynch in various roles for more than 30 years, including as a stock broker and investment banker. 

When the family relocated to Hendersonville, Tennessee, from Pennsylvania to aid the singer’s career, he transferred to the company’s Nashville office. 

Swift began talks with FTX representatives in late 2021 about the company possibly sponsoring her tour 

Swift’s father, Scott, shown here with his daughter, worked for Merrill Lynch in various roles for more than 30 years, including as a stock broker and investment banker

Swift began talks with FTX representatives in late 2021 about the company possibly sponsoring her tour, the Financial Times reported last year. 

Among the topics for discussion was the idea of selling concert tickets for her Eras Tour as NFTs. An FTX staffer told the FT: ‘No one really like the deal’ because it was ‘too expensive from the beginning.’

‘[The cost of the deal] was very high… really f***ing high. That’s front of the soccer jersey level prices,’ one former executive said. 

Among those actively seeking the deal were FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and senior executive Claire Watanabe.  

A security is an asset that can be traded  such as a stock or bond. Securities traded in the United States are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

The SEC said in December that FTX’s cryptocurrency was security but that it had not been properly registered. 

FTX entered bankruptcy in November when the global exchange ran out of money after the equivalent of a bank run.

Founder Sam Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to charges that he cheated investors and looted customer deposits to make lavish real estate purchases, campaign contributions to politicians, and risky trades at Alameda Research, his cryptocurrency hedge fund trading firm. 

Three former FTX executives have pleaded guilty to fraud charges and are cooperating with investigators.

Moskowitz’s lawsuit seeks damages from Bankman-Fried alongside several celebrities who promoted FTX including David, the creator of TV shows Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

David starred in a commercial for FTX that aired during the 2022 Super Bowl in which he portrayed fictional characters dismissing important innovations throughout history and ended with the message ‘Don’t Miss Out on Crypto.’ 

It also seeks damages from a National Basketball Association team that promoted FTX, the Golden State Warriors.

The celebrities and the Warriors said in court papers filed in April that they had never pitched the accounts at issue in the case and did not cause the investors’ losses.