RUMOR: STEPH CURRY RECEIVED A HUGE AMOUNT OF MONEY UP TO 35 MILLION USD FOR JUST 60 HOURS OF WORK, AN UNIMAGINABLE JOB (kf)

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Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried arrives for a bail hearing at Manhattan Federal Court on August 11, 2023 in New York City.

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Lewis, a Berkeley resident who wrote “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game” and “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game,” was interviewed by “60 Minutes” on Sunday. The 62-year-old was on the show to promote a new book about Bankman-Fried that he wrote after tailing the ex-billionaire for several years. Bankman-Fried is currently facing federal charges, including wire fraud and money laundering. His trial begins Tuesday, the same day Lewis’ book hits shelves.

Lewis met with the now-disgraced ex-CEO more than 100 times over two years in the course of reporting this book, per “60 Minutes.” He said he sees the result “as a kind of letter to the jury” in Bankman-Fried’s trial.

Brady and Curry’s connection to all of this is that they were each hired to star in commercials, and serve as spokespeople, for Bankman-Fried’s now-defunct exchange. Lewis said he got a look at internal FTX documents during his time shadowing Bankman-Fried that showed how much the two celebrity endorsers received.

“He paid Tom Brady $55 million for 20 hours a year for three years,” Lewis said. “He paid Steph Curry $35 million for [the] same thing for three years.”

FILE: Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) celebrates as the Sacramento Kings call a timeout during the second half of Game 7 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series Sunday, April 30, 2023, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/José Luis Villegas)

José Luis Villegas/Associated Press

Ads featuring Curry and Brady promoting FTX have been scrubbed from official channels, but they can still be found online. Curry’s ad focused on the idea that although he wasn’t an expert on crypto, he could still succeed in the crypto world because FTX made things so easy.

Brady’s ads portrayed the former quarterback as just a regular guy texting his friends about the hot new thing, which just so happened to be FTX. He even filmed an awkward video with Bankman-Fried in which he called the then-CEO “my boy Sam,” while attending a crypto conference in the Bahamas. (Bankman-Fried was ultimately extradited from the island nation to face his current slate of charges.)

Curry did not feature heavily in the “60 Minutes” spot, but the Warriors star is among the celebrities named in a class-action lawsuit against the failed FTX and its endorsers. Unlike other former spokespeople, Curry hasn’t scrubbed his social media of his FTX associations.

As for Brady, Lewis told “60 Minutes” that Brady “adored” Bankman-Fried, and that the former CEO “really liked” the ex-NFL star.

“The nerd of all nerds,” Lewis said of Bankman-Fried, laughing. “Like, even the nerds don’t hang out with this nerd, he’s such a nerd. The quarterback somehow likes him. And he somehow likes the quarterback.”

Interacting with celebrities shilling for his company wasn’t Bankman-Fried’s only attachment to the sports world. He once used his personal blog to wax poetic about baseball analytics, particularly as they related to the San Francisco Giants. And while the Giants’ second-half collapse this season may have been downright criminal, Bankman-Fried’s baseball prognosticating hasn’t landed him in any legal trouble so far.