Taylor Swift signed and agreed to a sponsorship deal with failing cryptocurrency exchange FTX after months of discussion before FTX executives decided not to go through with the deal, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC.
The nature of the agreement, previously informed by The New York Times on Thursday, contradicts public messages about the nature of the failed FTX-Swift deal. Public statements by a class action lawyer praised Swift’s due diligence efforts and said the artist asked the exchange to explain why her listed assets were not considered unregistered securities.
But Swift ultimately agreed to the deal, the person familiar with the matter told CNBC. The signed agreement was sent to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s email inbox, where it remained unanswered for a period of a few weeks, the person told CNBC, adding that ultimately a group of FTX executives convinced Bankman-Fried not to go ahead with the reported $100 million deal.
Three other sources familiar with the matter told The New York Times that Swift’s team signed the deal with FTX after six months of negotiations, with Bankman-Fried eventually pulling the plug.
The person familiar with the matter asked to remain anonymous due to ongoing federal and bankruptcy proceedings. The existence of an FTX-Swift association was first reported by financial time.
A person familiar with the negotiations and who requested anonymity because she was not authorized to speak said that FTX wanted Swift to back them up by doing commercials, interviews and promotional events on her behalf, as other celebrities were doing at the time, but she was not. OK. to support FTX. Negotiations came down to a sponsorship deal for the tour. That’s why the deal never closed, the source said.
FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022. Bankman-Fried faces multiple federal charges, including fraud and campaign finance violations. Three other FTX executives, Gary Wang, Caroline Ellison and Nishad Singh, have pleaded guilty to various federal charges and are cooperating with the government’s prosecution of Bankman-Fried.
