In September 2021, then-championship team Mercedes signed a long-term sponsorship contract with the cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading, whose logos appeared on the cars, equipment of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, on trailers and in the team’s pits. However, a year later, FTX declared bankruptcy and stopped paying its bills.
At the end of 2022, an angry Toto Wolff responded to the bankruptcy of one of the sponsors who owed money to the team: “The situation is very unpleasant. We entered into the partnership with FTX because they were one of the most reliable and solid, financially stable partners. And suddenly we see how a cryptocurrency company can simply disappear in a matter of days.
The bankruptcy of FTX took us by surprise. What happened shows how vulnerable this sector is. So far it has not been regulated in any way, but such regulation should be in place as many customers, investors and partners, like us, are now in complete confusion about what is happening.”
The day before, the FTX story came to its logical conclusion. The crypto exchange’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, who was accused of fraud and embezzlement of customer funds, was put on trial. The Manhattan Federal Court handed down a sentence of 25 years in prison.
Initially, the businessman faced a prison sentence of 110 years, prosecutors asked for a prison sentence of 50 years and Bankman-Fried’s lawyers insisted on 6.5 years. As a result, the judge sentenced him to 25 years in prison. During the hearing it emerged that the exchange’s customers lost $8 billion, investors $1.7 billion and creditors $1.3 billion.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
