The influencers Who promoted FTX are now Being sued for over a billion dollars in Damages and I want to talk about it We're not only speaking to a lawyer but Even one of the people getting sued meet Kevin Graham Stefan Andre dick minority Mindset Brian Jung Financial education Jeremy Tom Nash and bit boy crypto are All defendants in this lawsuit but Before we get into it I have to do Something I never thought I would do on this Channel I have to defend a certain person on That list a guy I have been very Critical of on this show I'm talking About bit boy crypto I know I can't believe it either what Many people don't know is that he turned Against them and get this months before The collapse he started warning people About FTX we are going to be Crossing Out ftt and Solana these are going to be Going out of the portfolios these coins Are dead to me same payment free Drew Dead to me Brett Harrison you are dead To me FTX you are dead to me you are Despicable and I'm disgusted by you in Every way shape or form everybody's Going to be on that track oh my gosh he Said that way back in September he said He's disgusted by sandbagment freed this Is Big Boy crypto guys he's the Jim Cramer of crypto and yet somehow he made
One of the greatest blind call outs of All time and it's so remarkable that I Actually want to show you yet another Clip of him doing this because I simply Couldn't believe it when I saw it They're playing games with people's Lives and that's not right time to Expose FTX and SPF what what they really Are what can I say that video is a month Before FTX collapsed and to be clear I Am not claiming that big boy is some Oracle I think it was luck but Understand that he's one of the most Widely ridiculed crypto influencers Everyone has dumped on this guy for Years for bad calls but here we are Watching him get FTX the biggest con More correct than even the most beloved Financial influencers so it just doesn't Make sense for him to be in this lawsuit And besides you're not supposed to sue Bit boy crypto anyways he sues you when You make fun of him alright sorry I'm I'm trying to defend him here but um I'm Not used to this strange turn of events Where the villain has become the hero But either way with that out of the way I want to talk about the rest of this Lawsuit basically the rest of these Influencers are accused of promoting FTX And getting paid for it it also accuses Them of not conducting adequate if any Do religions allegedly these influencers Played a major role in the FTX disaster
Who hyped the deceptive FTX platform for Undisclosed payments now look none of This is really surprising we talked About this back in November and it all Feels inevitable the whole reason FTX Was so popular is because of the amount Of money they dumped into these Advertising campaigns everyone I know Was offered one of these deals either Way it's pretty logical to see that Without people willing to take the money And sell FTX it just couldn't have hurt As many people and already we saw a Similar class action lawsuit come out Against arguably the biggest promoters Tom Brady Larry David Kevin O'Leary and So this just seems like the next logical Step targeted at smaller promoters Albeit Financial education influencers In particular so although these guys Don't have as anything close to Tom Brady's popularity the argument here is Different it's that people look to People like Graham Stefan and meet Kevin In a different way than they looked at Tom Brady if Tom Brady promotes some Penny stock you'll think nothing of it But meet Kevin Graham Stefan Andre chick Financial Jeremy all they do is do Finance all day long they even have a Podcast they called Millennial money Which was sponsored by you guessed it Ftxus and is now deleted and the point Is they position themselves as experts
And I think that's the real juice of This lawsuit in contrast to say like the Tom Brady lawsuit the only analogy I can Think of is like if someone tried to Sell you a pill that was going to help You lose weight and the two people Promoting it is Jack Black and Dr Oz Okay let's say you take the pill and Develop uncontrollable vomiting who Would you actually be mad at you know You could say Well Jack Black's more of A star But ultimately obviously the Answer would be Dr Oz because he's Expected to know better and to do due Diligence and the reasonable assumption Is that Jack Black couldn't look into it Even if he tried because he's not an Expert and so I think that component Probably will make a massive difference I'm certainly not saying everyone who Promoted FTX who didn't know anything About Finance should be let off the hook I think it's a huge problem either way That non-experts can chill Financial Products I'm just saying it's worse if They are experts but to make my position Even more explicit I don't think Influencers of any kind should be Allowed to promote these investment Products I think there's a huge downside To it and very little upside I think you Oftentimes end up hurting people because It's impossible to give broad Financial Advice in a responsible manner to a
Massive audience you don't know but on That note you might say well hang on a Minute Stephen I'm with you on not Selling Financial products but uh they Weren't selling that they were selling FTX right or FTX us and this is where Things get a little tricky because yes There's some truth to the fact that FTX Us was a platform but on that platform They were also selling Financial Products you see you could buy what was Called a yield bearing account or you Could put your money in it it's where They offered you eight percent a year And this wasn't just FTX this was FTX us And that's a problem because well this Type of account is probably an Unregistered security to avoid going Into too many details let's just say Several different accounts like this Have been targeted by the SEC as being Unregistered Securities and the FTX earn Accounts would be no different so this Is where the lawsuit gets its claim that These influencers may not have just been Promoting a scam they may have been Promoting an unregistered security Now To be fair to these influencers these Earn accounts were in a strange gray Area according to the website the FTX App earn is available only in permitted Jurisdictions which would appear to mean That the United States of America was Not allowed to have these accounts but
In typical Sam bankman freed fashion What they said on their website wasn't Actually true you see these accounts Were actually available to us investors As seen on a screenshot from their own App quote FTX earn rewards are available For us users on a promotional basis and Admittingly this was confusing to a lot Of people a redditor said FTX earned for U.S customers is incredible but very Poorly marketed and then complains that It almost feels intentionally hidden Which should have been a red flag uh and Maybe it was but it was there and like It or not if American investors put Money into this earn account we could Earn eight percent a year because of one Of these influencers they may have sold An unregistered security which would be Bad not just for the person who put Their money there but also bad for the Influencer I mean look it's it's all bad It's just legal Jiu Jitsu to kind of get To the obvious ultimately this story is About people getting hurt promoters Getting paid and now they're getting Sued for it to which I say good although Not everyone believes this particular Legal strategy is going to hold water I Asked legal eagle a well-known lawyer on YouTube what he thought and he was Doubtful about its chances and basically The entire case rests on a part of the Florida law that the plaintiff's claim
Connects the endorsers to FTX I'm very Skeptical of this the section in Question extends liability to any Director officer partner or agent for The seller if they personally Participated or aided in the making of a Sale and if you're on YouTube or if You're a celebrity endorser you're not a Director of the company you're not an Officer you're not a partner and you're Not an agent you're not able to act on Behalf of the company you're just Basically contracted to make a statement For most of them it relies on a bear Allegation that they were quote paid to Endorse FTX and then there is a Subsequent allegation where So wishy-washy it says quote it is hard To imagine that anyone who has done Business with FTX including paid Endorsers would not have personally Witnessed one or more of the Deficiencies identified by Mr Ray he's The guy who's in charge of the Receivership of FTX and bankruptcy and All FTX endorsers have extensive Business dealings Beyond FTX and surely Would be able to identify business Practices that are unusually problematic Now as a legal matter I don't think that That really changes anything as a Factual matter it's just completely False that a celebrity endorser or a YouTuber would have any insight into the
Inner workings of FTX that the public Does not have that's just not the way it Works though at the same time I wouldn't Want to be these YouTubers either who Are going to have to pay thousands and Thousands of dollars to their lawyers to Defend against what is quite possibly a Meritless lawsuit I don't expect this Particular lawsuit to go anywhere but I Think it is going to be a pain in the Sides of many of these YouTubers wow so There's the official opinion from an Expert it'll probably cost the Influencers a lot of money but he's Skeptical if it will hold up for the Long run of course we'll see how it Plays out but the last thing I wanted to Do was not just ask a lawyer what they Thought but ask these influencers Because look whether you think this Particular lawsuit is relevant it Changes nothing about the ethics of this Situation and I wanted to hear it Straight from them and most of them Refused to comment for understandable Reasons but meet Kevin decided to Respond and here's what he said you're Being sued along with several others for The promotion of FTX do you think you Should be liable what are your thoughts It's terrible I think I've lost money from Episode Finance community
Egg on the face so to speak because Because of the association with somebody Who ended up being In fraud and it's miserable the way I Compare it is I was a real estate broker For quite a while still am a real estate Broker and I'll oftentimes clients ask Us for vendor recommendations hey little Electrician who's a good plumber and I Had this before where 9 I'm the electrician you recommend is Great and at one time something goes Wrong because that stuff happens it Turns into the situation where the Person who's responsible is a person Making the mistake uh and I know it's Terrible because it's like hey well Financial influencers so what how come They didn't know we didn't have access To financials at FTX we had hired uh Individual Representatives Sort of stuff and they tell us they do All the vettings for us you know this is Why we hire people to help us and so we Don't have a look into the systems of What's really going on behind the scenes Whoever else has been caught up in this But I think that the worst case uh Scenario Of all the individual don't have access To their deposits but do you think you Should specifically you or me uh Graham Or anybody else like who promoted it I Think the difference is between you and
Tom Brady is people kind of expect you Guys to know do you think you should be A do you think you should be giving Recommendations if you can't do the Proper due diligence because as you said You don't have access to these Financials and then B do you think that Given that you guys profited I'm Guessing somewhere in the realm of a Million dollars plus from these FTX Things uh do you think that you should Give back all of that money Probably somewhere Somewhere 25k is supposed to be closer To 300 but they never paid me the last The last so I'm probably somewhere right Around 220 I need to fact checked up but We're close to somewhere around that uh And uh Ultimately I agree with you I think that That there needs to be a better there Needs to be a lot more diligence in when Sponsorships are made uh with Chris yeah Because you guys are dealing with Finances this isn't like this isn't a Nord VPN ad where if things go wrong you Know something happens this is like if Something goes wrong people's entire Livelihoods are at stake and For Better Or For Worse you guys are seen as uh the Experts and so you guys are held to that Expert standard it's like if a doctor Recommended a pill that doesn't work and Gives you some you know gives you cancer
Or something suppose it's also relevant To what people individually say right Because individually I've always said Look crypto is extremely speculative and That it should represent a tiny portion Of your folio if anything at all on top Of that it's also incumbent upon the Individual to take some responsibility That we know not your keys not your Crypto that's been made abundantly clear Even with these bank failures I believe That ultimately depositors deserve some Form of a haircut because ultimately They choose now if I say hey go to you Know Silicon Valley bank and get a loan And you're like I get alone here I get All these benefits ultimately you take That risk so it is incumbent upon the Individual to take responsibility as Well yes a doctor can refer you hey Maybe this But the individuals aren't the experts That's the whole problem is they rely on Experts to help them make this decision They don't have the luxury of spending All day looking at finance and stuff Like this so they rely on people to make Their decisions for better or worse and Then when things go wrong uh you know Ultimately people are gonna look to the Experts in the room and say hey what Happened and if the answer is well we Just didn't do enough due diligence Sorry that's that's kind of a problem so
I think that's that's where their Questions about like giving back all the Money come from Um have have you spoken to anybody about Just giving back the money uh to the to The people affected and once this once All the cards are settled or all the Dust is settled so to speak and Everybody gets whatever money is left Back uh whatever deposits are left I I'm A big fan of contributing to some sort Of Recovery Fund when it's all over not Because I feel responsible I do not feel Responsible but because I feel so Evergreen for people who quite frankly Lost money because they either didn't Listen to the advice of not your keys Not your crypto or they put too much of Their own portfolio on you know if I go Onto a gambling website because somebody Says hey go gamble here you'll make a Lot of money and I lose money that's on Me and I want to be clear too I invested In Block fight thinking this was going To be a great investment I put 420 000 Into block fight I lost every dime of That because the company went bankrupt Now did I blame Anthony pompliano for Making the recommendation or suggesting Hey you could invest with my fund into Uh blog fight absolutely not because I'm A big boy and I take personal Responsibility so I want to be very Clear just because I I suggest that hey
You know there should be and I'm happy To work with it some form of like Basically a charity let's be clear That's what it is it's not taking Responsibility because ultimately I Don't think anyone any influencer has to Take responsibility for what somebody Does with product advice that should Only That responsibility should only arise Somebody actually hires somebody like Retaining an attorney hiring a doctor For their own personal situation or Hiring a personal financial advisor Otherwise from there it's a lesson to The whole Community we've got to be more Careful with sponsors and the viewers Have to be you know diligent about the Own their own decisions well there you Go guys those are the thoughts of meet Kevin and I want to thank him for coming On and maybe one day he'll start that Charity he's talking about maybe not but Until then I just want you to understand something The next time you're thinking of Trusting a financial influencer These promotional deals how they work With things like FTX is that there's a Code associated with it that tracks Sales for example you might have heard Of somebody saying hey use code Coffeezilla or you know they have some Link right so FTX can see how many
People signed up with Kevin's link or Shax link and you know who takes Responsibility when it's time to make Money the influencer they take Responsibility for you joining their Platform that's how FTX group they paid All these people who wanted to be Responsible for bringing you in but you Know what happens when things go wrong Suddenly they're not responsible you did It it's on you isn't that a convenient Switch up of who brought you in at first It was them and then you brought Yourself in you got to take Responsibility for your own actions and I just don't think this is really Working for people anymore I think it Really just benefits the influencers and The financial companies but hardly Anyone else it's bad for regular people And I think there just really needs to Be new rules in place about financial Experts in the modern era but hey that's Just my opinion hashtag not Financial Advice