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Note that her father is a Merrill Lynch veteran of 40 years (the article people reference for 30 years was written in 2012 https://www.businessinsider.com/taylor-swifts-dad-works-at-m... ).

It may have been her team... but it isn't unreasonable to believe that she is aware of the issues around promoting securities.

Someone on her team is financially savvy enough to know the questions to ask. It could have been a random member of her legal time, it could have been her father, it could have been her after a conversation with her father about it... or she may have been aware of those issues herself with a few decades of family conversations with a financial advisor.

Well I also think that people underrate how much staff someone at Swift's level employs. We really should think of them as CEOs of their name.

But I also think it's a bit of hindsight snobbery to assume anyone was seriously looking FTX as a securities fraud risk in 2020. Maybe normal fraud, or even just a general ponzi scheme. It was an SEC-approved platform ~~that traded on the stock market!~~

> Well I also think that people underrate how much staff someone at Swift's level employs. We really should think of them as CEOs of their name.

The Business Insider link can give hints to that. As a trader, her father is required to do certain disclosures.

    4)BUSINESS OR ACTIVITY NAME: 13 MANAGEMENT LLC
      FOR PROFIT OR NOT FOR PROFIT: FOR PROFIT
      INVESTMENT RELATED: NO
      ADDRESS OF BUSINESS: NASHVILLE, TN 37203
      NATURE OF BUSINESS: COMPANY OWNS 18 TOURING BUSES
      YOUR POSITION. TITLE. ASSOCIATION: MANAGES AND PAYS EMPLOYEES

Just being aware of Brandon Sanderson's company and "all" he does is write books and has a company of 50 people supporting that... a pop star can certainly have quite a bit larger company with a team of lawyers and support people and accountants and marketing dealing with the product that is the person who's name they're attached to. The more they do, the larger that supporting cast needs to be... and that's not even getting into the supporting entertainment cast.

What stock market are you referring to?

My mistake. I thought it was a publicly traded company.

So you're not going to edit your original comment?

I believe Taylor Swift could have asked the question. She's an incredibly intelligent, person, the daughter of a finance professional, and she's demonstrated her business acumen repeatedly over the course of her career.

When someone offers you $100 million out of the blue to endorse them, that should trigger red flag alerts, especially for someone like Swift who zealously protects her image. It's likely that someone on her legal team pointed out the securities issue to her during a briefing, and she brought it up during negotiations with FTX (Rolling Stone notes that multiple members of the FTX C-Suite personally attempted to recruit her, and lawyers don't generally get involved in contract negotiations until an agreement in principle has been worked out.)

Sure. I don't doubt for a second her intelligence, or even her seeing FTX as a fad or troubled. But the implications of an opaque SEC definition of security and its impact on her personal liability would be a bizarrely specific thing to be looking for.

Again, in pretty much every other celebrity endorsement deal, you are not personally on the hook if it turns out the company screwed up or defrauded people. It's just very unlucky for the defendants that the product turned out to be a security which is has special and arcane rules, instead of just made of asbestos by slave children, I guess.

Not really. I advised a very large name pop star when she was getting into investing in startups. She would sometimes meet with the CEO's and after a few months I was genuinely astonished how quickly she learned how to read a terms sheet, research a particular market, and ask extremely pointed and specific questions. She learned javascript for fun, just didn't want anyone to know because she thought it would diminish her image.

It's more than plausible that tons of people in Taylor's orbit tried to involve her in various crypto schemes, and either her dad someone on her team introduced her to the concept of unregulated securities (if she wasn't already aware - in interviews at the start of her career - when she was a teenager - she would say if music doesn't work out, she was going to go into finance).

A lot of entertainment industry celebrities are dumb as a bag of rocks. Others are terrifyingly smart. Ms. Swift strikes me as the latter

> She learned javascript for fun, just didn't want anyone to know because she thought it would diminish her image.

That's awful. Having a technical skill shouldn't be seen as a negative. Is this due to something specific to this pop star's audience, or does it apply more generally to celebrities outside of tech?

Maybe it's because javascript has a poor reputation?

If she'd learned a better language, maybe it would be seen as better? :)

it’s just not cool. it’s nerdy

implications of an opaque SEC definition of security and its impact on her personal liability would be a bizarrely specific thing to be looking for

Given that the "opaque SEC definition of security" has been one of the most-commented on aspects of cryptocurrencies for several years, it seems like it would be a basic thing for a financially savvy businesswoman to ask about.

pretty much every other celebrity endorsement deal, you are not personally on the hook if it turns out the company screwed up or defrauded people.

??? They definitely can be. It's been part of American jurisprudence for decades. The FTC even has specific rules governing endorsements....

I mean Larry's literally said Naaaaaah to FTX in that ad.

You should have really heard the man I guess

That would be an amazing legal defense if it worked.

"I was in the ad but I was telling people not to buy it!"

I was just thinking how his acting was so on point with his broader branding, the whole ad he's 'Curbing your enthusiam' of sorts.

The ad ending:

>Q: Would you say is FTX an easy and safe way to go into crypto? Larry: Eeeaaaah I don't think so, And I'm never wrong about this stuff, never.

The ad ends with a don't be like larry, which ironically if you where like me and interpreted all marketing or ads by default as the double speak likes they are, you would just read as -be just like larry, avoid FTX-

IANAL, but yeah that'd be a fun defense strategy to behold to be on a real trial, very comically appropiate for larry's trial if there's ever one

Why is it impossible for Talyor Swift to ask that question herself? Because she is a blonde singer?

It is very common for someone top of one's trade to command respectable knowledge and skill in another trade.

Einstein was a decent violin player. It wouldn't be a surprise if he asked some deep questions in musics in certain circumstances.

Talyor Swift has got to the top and sustained at the top of probably the most competitive business, and keeps her wealth growing. She has certainly financial knowledge and discipline. I am pretty sure she is capable of asking that question.

> It is very common for someone top of one's trade to command respectable knowledge and skill in another trade.

I don't think that's true. There are some popularized figures, especially ones who have become public figures through music, and then have had continued success, but those are just the pop stars. What about all the doctors or engineers who have found success in one area, and then think that automatically makes them experts in a different area, with disasterous results?

Alternatively: Swift didn't get dragged in because she didn't need the money and understands that.

TSwift also doesn't need the ERAS Tour money, and yet, she's doing it. She is a billionaire, and people don't become billionaires by deciding they don't need $100MM for free. She recognized that $100MM FTX deal wasn't free, she recognized it was a bad deal, and she turned it down. Simple as that.

I think a key difference there would be: the SEC likely isn't going to investigate her directly over the latest tour she schedules