The new partnership
It was the month of September 2021 when the Mercedesthen fighting for the world title with Red Bull and Max Verstappen, reached an agreement with Sam Bankman FriedCEO of FTX. The global cryptocurrency company became one of the main ones sponsor of the Anglo-German team, with its logo present on the cars, on the drivers' suits, in the pits and in the Mercedes hospitality.
Wolff's belief
The new partnership included a multi-million dollar and above all multi-year agreementwith team principal Toto Wolff describing FTX as at the time “a well-matched partner in our incessant pursuit of performance”. It's a shame that on the eve of the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix, where Mercedes also achieved its last victory while waiting for the 2024 Japanese GP, the collaboration was interrupted.
The failure
Before the weekend in Interlagos, FTX indeed presented bankruptcy petition, resulting in the resignation of Bankman-Fried. In addition to Mercedes, the latter also entered into similar collaborations with other American sports teams, such as NBA teams (Miami Heat and Golden State Warrior), Major League Baseball and an American football star like Tom Brady: “We had considered FTX because it was one of the most credible, solid and financially sound partners out there, and out of nowhere you can see that a Cryptocurrency company can be on its knees and disappear in a week – Wolff then declared regarding the failure – this shows how vulnerable the sector still is. It is unregulated and I believe it needs to be regulated because there are so many customers, investors and partners like us who have been left in utter disbelief that this has happened.”
The sentence
Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment from the Manhattan Federal Court, in addition to the confiscation of 11 billion dollars. The 32-year-old was found guilty of seven counts of wire fraud and criminal conspiracy to commit money laundering. Believed to be one of the largest financial frauds in history (with prosecutors calling for a harsher sentence), last November an investor sued Mercedes, along with other sports partnerships, for helping to commit fraud by promoting the now former cryptocurrency company.
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