Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence was one of several athletes and celebrities named in a class action lawsuit filed Tuesday that seeks damages stemming from the collapse and bankruptcy of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
Lawrence — and a list of other defendants that includes Tom Brady, Stephen Curry, Shaquille O’Neal, and Shohei Ohtani — are accused of not disclosing “the nature, scope, and amount of compensation” they received to promote FTX and not performing “any due diligence” before marketing FTX products to the public.
FTX was founded in 2019 and was one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in 2021, but filed for bankruptcy earlier this month.
Lawrence, 23, signed a multiyear sponsorship with FTX (known as Blockfolio at the time) days ahead of the 2021 NFL Draft when he was picked first overall by the Jaguars.
We're excited to announce our partnership with football star, @Trevorlawrencee! The world of sports and crypto will never be the same. pic.twitter.com/8KC3ZHHagu
— FTX App (@ftx_app) April 26, 2021
Earlier this year, there were reports that Lawrence took his entire $24 million signing bonus in cryptocurrency and lost about $15 million in the 2022 crash of the industry. But the Jaguars quarterback pushed back on those claims in a now-deleted tweet that said people were confusing his NFL signing bonus with the bonus he received for partnering with FTX.
