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Areas of Interest
November 29th, 2022
Are Tom Brady and Larry David Liable for the FTX Disaster?
Blockchain Technology Co-Chair Hannah Taylor is quoted in the article, “Are Tom Brady and Larry David Liable for the FTX Disaster?” published by Decrypt. The article discusses the class-action lawsuit against FTX and how likely the allegations will stick to the celebrity endorsers who are listed as co-defendants. Hannah is quoted saying, “There’s not been a lot of precedent for holding celebrities accountable in this sort of case. It’s usually done to help draw PR attention to a case. What’s really going to be hard for them is to prove the idea of conspiracy or fraud—the idea that [these celebrities] were somehow part of some mastermind scheme to defraud consumers. I think that’s unlikely.”
The class-action lawsuit also invoked Florida state securities laws, claiming that FTX violated such statutes by peddling unregistered yield-bearing accounts (YBAs) like staking pools, which offered users guaranteed returns on deposits. “Once a digital asset that someone is promoting is found to be a security, additional rules apply about what they have to disclose and how they have to engage with consumers. If the Florida judge in last week’s lawsuit rules that FTX’s YBAs were in fact securities, past celebrity endorsers of FTX could be exposed to increased liability,” said Hannah.
Hannah says, “There are still factors that could increase a celebrity’s exposure to liability, though. The further their statements on FTX strayed from a general endorsement to specific claims of safety, trustworthiness, or guaranteed returns, the greater the risk of liability. What Steph Curry said, making safety claims about the platform, goes beyond what, for example, Naomi Osaka said, going ‘Oh, cool! FTX!’”
Hannah thinks the class-action lawsuit could be the least of these celebrities’ worries. She says, “Even if these plaintiffs might not be able to prove from a class action standpoint that these celebrities were willfully involved in some conspiracy to defraud consumers, you might have technical noncompliance with other laws.”
Read the full article here.
Other Quoted
Data Privacy Roundup
The AdExchanger newsletter quotes Daniel M. Goldberg, highlighting key privacy enforcement trends. He provided an example of how opting in cookie tracking by clicking a bold “Allow All” button contrasted with declining tracing, which required a more involved two-step process. Mr. Goldberg pointed out that regulators saw this process as a “potential dark pattern.” “‘Symmetry of choice is the idea that it should be just as easy to accept as it is to reject,’” Goldberg said. ‘It’s an area regulators are looking very, very closely at.’” He also noted dark pattern fines, especially with the CPPA could become substantially larger. He underscored due diligence in programs, referencing recent privacy enforcement setttlements and fines. “‘All these cases involve vendor solutions that did not work,’ Goldberg said. ‘In almost all of them, the company did have privacy compliance in place; it just wasn’t working.’” View Article
July 25 2025
SHOOT’s 65th Anniversary Reflections: FKKS’ Managing Partner Jeffrey A. Greenbaum
SHOOT Magazine quotes Jeffrey A. Greenbaum in its 65th Anniversary coverage on where the advertising industry has been, is, and is going. Jeff discusses the most significant legal cases during his industry tenure and the accompanying lessons, the most pressing legal issues for the commercial production community, his most meaningful professional accomplishments, and the value he has gained from reading SHOOT. Read more.
July 24 2025
Companies Sought Help From Privacy Vendors. They Still Got Fined
Daniel M. Goldberg is quoted in Bloomberg Law on problems faced by companies who have relied on compliance vendors to help them navigate new privacy laws. The article stated that vendors operating with little oversight, outdated tech have “left businesses with consumer-facing websites open to fines and other enforcement actions.”
Bloomberg Law noted, “For example, giving consumers the option to disable cookies may not turn off all of a company’s tracking technology. So consumer data could still be automatically sent to a third party for advertising.
“Vendors cannot just repurpose tools meant to comply with EU’s data protection law for California’s rules, said Daniel M. Goldberg, chair of the data strategy, privacy & security group at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC.
"‘Many solutions are solutions that are built for one purpose,’ Goldberg said, adding that some vendors’ ‘default configurations often aren’t drafted in a way that is sufficient to address US privacy law.’” View Article.
July 14 2025
