Larry David expressed some contrition over participating in a high-profile 2022 Tremendous Bowl industrial for the cryptocurrency trade FTX, the founding father of which was final yr discovered responsible of fraud, conspiracy and cash laundering.
”, I requested folks, pals of mine who had been well-versed on this stuff, ’Ought to I do that advert? Is there something fallacious with this, me doing this? Is that this okay?'” David advised The Related Press on Tuesday on the Los Angeles premiere of the ultimate season of ”Curb Your Enthusiasm,” which David created and stars in.
”They usually mentioned ’Yeah, that is completely on the up and up. Yeah. It is wonderful. Do it.’ So, like an fool, I did it,” he mentioned.
The industrial, which aired in the course of the 2022 Tremendous Bowl, options the ”Seinfeld” co-creator casting doubt on numerous innovations and concepts all through historical past, together with the wheel, the fork, espresso, the lightbulb and area journey.
Lastly, David is introduced with FTX, to which he responds, ”I do not suppose so. And I am by no means fallacious about these things.” Viewers are then suggested to not miss out on ”the subsequent massive factor.”
A proposed class-action lawsuit filed in federal court docket in Florida in 2022 accused David, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and celebrities reminiscent of NFL quarterback Tom Brady and supermodel Gisele Bundchen of defrauding buyers who misplaced cash within the cryptocurrency trade’s sudden collapse. Brady and Bundchen had been among the many athletes and entertainers who promoted FTX as a part of the trade’s $20 million advert marketing campaign.
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for HBO
”I imply, a category motion lawsuit, which I’d like to be a part of, trigger a part of my wage was in crypto,” David advised AP on the premiere. ”So I misplaced some huge cash.”
In court docket papers filed in April 2023, David and the celebrities named requested for the case to be dismissed, saying they didn’t trigger buyers’ losses, Reuters reported.
Bankman-Fried was discovered responsible late final yr on seven counts of fraud, conspiracy and cash laundering, fees that every carry a most sentence of 20 years in jail. He was additionally convicted of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud, which every carry a five-year most sentence.
”Sam Bankman-Fried perpetrated one of many greatest frauds in American historical past, a multibillion-dollar scheme designed to make him the king of crypto,” Damian Williams, U.S. lawyer for the Southern District of New York, mentioned in a information briefing following the decision. ”Here is the factor: the cryptocurrency trade may be new. The gamers like Sam Bankman-Fried may be new. This sort of fraud, this type of corruption, is as outdated as time, and now we have no persistence for it.”
—Kate Gibson contributed reporting.