I thought FTX was model biz: Gisele
Gisele Bündchen said she was “blindsided” by the shocking implosion of FTX, despite the fact she had been tapped as a high-profile pitchwoman for the doomed crypto exchange.
Tom Brady’s ex, 42, broke her silence on FTX’s collapse into bankruptcy in a cover story for Vanity Fair released Wednesday.
“I was blindsided,” Bündchen said. “I’m no different than everyone else that trusted the hype.”
Bündchen said she believed FTX was a “sound and great thing based on what my financial advisers told me.”
The supermodel, who had appeared alongside founder Sam Bankman-Fried to discuss the cryptocurrency industry’s sustainability efforts at the Salt Crypto Bahamas Conference last spring, signaled she supports authorities in their effort to crack down on those responsible for FTX’s downfall.
“It’s just . . . terrible,” Bündchen said. “I’m so sorry for all of us that this happened, and I just pray that justice gets made.”
Bündchen, who also had been given the title of environmental and social initiatives head at FTX, reportedly declined to discuss the situation in more detail for legal reasons.
Bündchen’s front-and-center involvement drew immediate scrutiny once the feds exposed alleged malfeasance at FTX.
Bündchen and Brady were key FTX brand ambassadors prior to its downfall, at one point even appearing in a commercial together in which they urged everyday people such as plumbers and doctors to invest in cryptocurrency.
They are each listed as defendants in a class-action lawsuit on behalf of FTX customers who lost money in the collapse. The former couple received sizable equity stakes in FTX, which once drew a $32 billion valuation.
Bankman-Fried is under house arrest while awaiting a highly anticipated trial slated for October.