Earlier this year, a journalist suggested to now-former crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried that he was "in the Ponzi business and it's pretty good." Bankman-Fried, the son of two Stanford professors who went on to become the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, did not really push back, calling it a "reasonable response" with a "depressing amount of validity."
What a Ponzi scheme needs more than anything is a steady stream of hype to attract new marks. FTX, whatever prosecutors determine it was, indisputably invested heavily in marketing and celebrity endorsements. Celebrities ranging from Tom Brady to Larry David starred in commercials for the exchange.