U.S. crypto investors have sued FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, as well as a host of celebrities, including NFL player Tom Brady and comedian Larry David, who advertised the crypto exchange. The lawsuit accuses them of using fraudulent methods to promote FTX.

A class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday in Miami District Court by Oklahoma resident Edwin Garrison on behalf of other crypto exchange account holders alleges that Yield-bearing account (YBA) FTX accounts, which were purchased by investors to earn interest in crypto, are in fact deed unregistered securities, and therefore their sale was carried out in violation of US law.

“The misleading FTX platform backed by FTX organizations was a veritable house of cards, a Ponzi scheme in which FTX organizations shuffled customer funds between their non-transparent affiliates, using new investor funds raised through YBA investments and loans to pay interest to existing ones. savers in an attempt to maintain a semblance of liquidity,” the lawsuit says.

The plaintiffs are represented by prominent lawyers including Adam Moskowitz and David Boies. In addition to Bankman-Fried, the lawsuit lists 11 well-known athletes and actors who "either controlled, promoted, assisted or actively participated in FTX Trading." FTX Trading is a Bahamas-based company that operated the FTX crypto exchange.