- Taylor Swift was apparently the rare celebrity to ask if FTX dealt in "unregistered securities."
- But her team agreed to a tour sponsorship with FTX, The New York Times reported.
Back when FTX was pursuing A-list celebrity associations, the pop megastar Taylor Swift had been shrewd to inquire if the crypto exchange was dealing in "unregistered securities," a class action lawyer said earlier this year.
The relationship between Swift and the now-collapsed FTX may have been a little more nuanced, even if it didn't ultimately pan out, according to a new report.
Swift's team had agreed to a tour sponsorship arrangement with FTX, and had even signed on it, The New York Times reports. But the crypto exchange's founder Sam Bankman-Fried withdrew in a "last-minute reversal," which "frustrated and disappointed" the Swift camp, The Times reported, citing unnamed sources close to the matter.
A representative for Bankman-Fried declined to comment.
Swift would not endorse FTX, and the proposed arrangement had been "narrowed down to a tour sponsorship deal," a source familiar with the discussions told Insider. "That's why the deal was never finalized," the source said.
"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," the source said.
The class action lawyer Adam Moskowitz had suggested on an April episode of the crypto podcast "The Scoop" that Swift had been the rare celebrity to ask pertinent questions about FTX.
Moskowitz, who represents FTX customers, has targeted celebrities in litigation alleging that they promoted the crypto exchange without being transparent about being paid to advertise it, according to court filings.
"In our discovery, Taylor Swift actually asked them, can you tell me that these are not unregistered securities?" Moskowitz said on the episode.
Moskowitz did not immediately respond to Insider's emailed request for comment on Thursday morning.
Swift and FTX had contemplated a $100 million sponsorship deal, the FT reported in December. But even then, the conversations were around a potential sponsorship, and not a deal for Swift to actually endorse FTX, the FT reported, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter.
Bankman-Fried, who has pleaded not guilty to charges brought by federal prosecutors in New York over the collapse of FTX, is awaiting trial scheduled to take place in October.