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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
An Influencer Gained Followers as She Documented Her Weight Loss. Then She Revealed She Was on a GLP-1
Hannah E. Taylor is quoted in The Wall Street Journal about social media influencer Janelle Rohner, who shared her weight loss progression with diet and lifestyle tips, selling a paid course on nutrition. When Ms. Rohner posted she was taking a medication used for weight reduction and diabetes, her critics questioned her the legality of her advertising and e-commerce. The article stated, “Hannah Taylor, deputy managing partner and a partner in the advertising, marketing and public relations group at law firm Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, said proving an influencer acted fraudulently is a high bar because many jurisdictions require showing that the defendant had an intent to deceive. False advertising is typically easier to prove. Taylor said if someone had purchased the course believing that it led to Rohner’s weight loss, when in fact the medicine was the cause, that could be a material omission that could subject the influencer to false advertising liability.” View article.
May 30 2025
Mubi’s $24M Bet Just Made Agents Bullish Again. Here’s Why
Hayden Goldblatt is quoted in The Ankler article on Mubi’s purchase of Lynne Ramsay's film, “Die, My Love,” and what it meant for the Cannes market. He’s interviewed on “the real lessons from Cannes.” View article. (Behind paywall)
May 27 2025
A Federal Judge Ordered OpenAI to Stop Deleting Data
Daniel M. Goldberg is quoted in an Adweek article, which reported that a federal judge has ordered OpenAI to stop deleting output data from ChatGPT. This was part of The New York Times lawsuit, alleging OpenAI engaged in copyright infringement “by using ‘millions’ of articles published by the newspaper to train its AI model, which now directly competes with the Times’ content as a result.” The judge’s order seeks to preserve evidence in the Times’ case. Mr. Goldberg addressed mulitple implications of the order, which requires OpenAI to hold more data than they normally would. "That could make OpenAI more susceptible to security breaches, or shake the trust of consumers who expected their chatbot records to be deleted. There are also potential implications regarding energy use, storage and environmental impact that the judge may not have considered when making the order, Goldberg said." He also noted the order would trigger people's concerns about what it means for working with large tecnology providers.
May 21 2025
