Taylor Swift wanted to take up FTX’s multimillion dollar deal, says author Michael Lewis.But Lewis said negotiations fell through after Sam Bankman-Fried “dragged his feet.”Lewis wrote about FTX’s talks with Swift in his new book on the rise and fall of the company.
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Taylor Swift may have signed a deal with FTX if not for Sam Bankman-Fried delaying it, per author Michael Lewis’s latest book on the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange.
Lewis’s book on the rise and fall of Bankman-Fried’s FTX, “Going Infinite,” was published on Tuesday. Lewis wrote in his book that news reports that Swift had “turned down FTX’s money” weren’t “quite true.”
“FTX had an agreement with Swift to pay her between $25 and $30 million a year, but Sam dragged his feet on the deal,” Lewis wrote.
Lewis wrote that he spoke to a former FTX employee, Natalie Tien, who told him Swift wanted to do the deal, “but Sam kept postponing on response to her team.”
“Another person intimately involved with the negotiation between Swift and FTX said, ‘Taylor did not turn it down. They were waiting for Sam to sign it when he didn’t,'” Lewis wrote.
When reached for comment, a source close to the negotiations told Insider that “FTX wanted Taylor to endorse them by doing commercials, interviews, and promotional events on their behalf like other celebrities were doing at that time but she would not agree to endorse FTX.”
“Negotiations were narrowed down to FTX becoming the exclusive cryptocurrency payments partner of the tour,” the source said. “It became apparent that FTX lost interest since her team was only focused on a tour sponsorship deal. That’s why the deal was never finalized.”
A representative for Bankman-Fried declined to comment on the excerpt.
Swift was one of the many celebrities that FTX and Bankman-Fried courted for endorsements. Besides the pop star, Bankman-Fried landed former NFL quarterback Tom Brady and tennis star Naomi Osaka as brand ambassadors.
In April, lawyer Adam Moskowitz said on “The Scoop” podcast that Swift didn’t take the deal because she was the only celebrity to have done her due diligence. According to Moskowitz, Swift had asked FTX if they were dealing with unregistered securities.
Moskowitz, who is handling a class-action lawsuit against several FTX promoters, said on the podcast that Swift eventually pulled out of the deal.
In any case, Swift likely dodged a bullet when any deal that may have been on the table fell through.
Bankman-Fried was charged in December 2022 with illegally funneling millions of dollars from FTX customer funds into his trading firm, Alameda.
The criminal trial against Bankman-Fried began on Tuesday. The embattled crypto entrepreneur faces seven criminal charges ranging from securities fraud to money laundering.
Editor’s note: October 4, 2023 — This story has been updated with comments from a source close to the negotiations between FTX and Swift.
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