FTX Investor Files Suit Against Sequoia Capital, Thoma Bravo, Paradigm
From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at ÍøÆØ³Ô¹Ï
A cryptocurrency investor has filed suit against private equity firms including Sequoia Capital, Thoma Bravo, and Paradigm for improperly touting the legitimacy of FTX.
The firms collaborated on a 2021 marketing campaign to hype their own investments in FTX entities, according to the proposed class-action complaint. The complaint alleges that the marketing campaign contributed an “air of legitimacy” to the business that subsequently filed for bankruptcy while the co-founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, now faces criminal charges. Sequoia in particularly has attracted heightened scrutiny as it previously published a 14,000-word profile about the entrepreneur titled “Sam Bankman-Fried Has a Savior Complex — And Maybe You Should Too.”
The firms claim to have conducted sufficient due diligence of FTX’s operations before Thoma Bravo invested more than $100 million while Paradigm invested at least $250 million, according to the complaint, which was filed in federal court in San Francisco. The class-action complaint alleges several violations of state and federal law, including misrepresentation, false advertising, and civil conspiracy.
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