US basketball’s reigning champions have been sued by a disgruntled FTX customer who has accused them of deceiving people into investing in the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange.
Last December, Golden State Warriors signed a first-of-its-kind partnership with FTX touting it as the ‘Warriors’ Official Cryptocurrency Platform’ with the deal including Golden State NFTs built around star player Steph Curry.
Elliot Lam, a Canadian citizen and FTX user is suing the team for falsely advertising the failed platform.
The Californian class-action lawsuit is on behalf of the flock of people outside the US who traded on FTX, with Lam claiming personal losses of US$750,000.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison, CEO of an affiliate, Alameda Research, are also named in the writ with Lam arguing FTX’s claims as a “viable and safe way to invest in crypto… were untrue or misleading.”
FTX owes more than US$3bn to its creditors following the bankruptcy of the exchange.
An additional lawsuit in Miami by US customers is seeking damages from 11 celebrity backers including Steph Curry, Tom Brady, Larry David, and Naomi Osaka.
The NBA team has now paused any promotions connected with FTX, while Miami Heat, another US basketball team. declared it will drop the FTX name from its stadium.
Florida-based Heat are not involved with the GSW lawsuit.
A Warriors spokeswoman said it will not comment on pending legal queries.