Sharon Stone: I lost half my fortune in banking crisis

At the fundraising event to receive a Courage Award – Axelle/Bauer-Griffin

As one of Hollywood’s most famous femme fatales, Sharon Stone has regularly played the part of the glamorous and seductive woman who lures unsuspecting men to rack and ruin.

But, the Oscar-nominated actress has now claimed to have unwittingly fallen victim to a banking crisis herself, losing “half” of her considerable fortune.

Appearing at a Los Angeles fundraising event to receive a Courage Award, the star of 1990s films such as Basic Instinct and Silver broke down in tears as she explained how that “banking thing” had affected her.

The 65-year-old Oscar nominated actress was speaking at the Women’s Cancer Research Fund in Beverly Hills.

She was receiving the reward for raising awareness about breast cancer after she had opened up about surgery she underwent following the discovery of a benign tumour in her breast.

But she then spoke about mobile phone banking before apparently referring to the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).

“I know that thing that you have to get on and figure out how to text the money is difficult,” she said at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel ballroom. “I’m a technical idiot, but I can write a f—–g cheque.

“And right now, that’s courage, too, because I know what’s happening. I just lost half my money to this banking thing, and that doesn’t mean that I’m not here.”

Stone, who also appeared in Martin Scorsese’s Casino, failed to elaborate on exactly how the “banking thing” cost her so much money.

It is thought that she was referring to the turmoil surrounding the collapse of SVB on March 10.

All deposits at SVB have been protected after an intervention by Joe Biden, the US president.

However, anyone with shares in the bank would have suffered a sizeable loss.

High profile investors caught in collapse 

Stone’s comments came after a number of high profile investors got caught up in the collapse. Peter Thiel, the German American billionaire venture capitalist, said he had had $50 million (£41 million) in SVB when it went under, despite his venture fund warning portfolio companies that the tech lender was at risk.

His venture capital firm Founders Fund was among those that had advised clients to spread their deposits to other lenders as concerns about the bank mounted.

Thiel later revealed he maintained a substantial personal account at the bank despite fears it was exposed.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr Thiel, who co-founded tech companies PayPal and Palantir in addition to Founders Fund, said: “I had $50 million of my own money stuck in SVB.”

Losing that kind of money would not have ruined Thiel, who was the first major investor in Facebook and is now thought worth more than $4 billion. SVB’s parent company, on the other hand, filed for bankruptcy.

The turmoil sparked by the failure also triggered a plunge in the share price of Credit Suisse, with rival bank UBS lined up to launch a rescue takeover over the weekend.

San Francisco-based First Republic was also hit by a share price plunge, suggesting it too could be hit by the panic gripping the industry.

Stone’s comments came after she also revealed that her brother, Patrick Stone, had died in February from heart disease at the age of 57.

She told the audience in LA: “My brother just died, and that doesn’t mean that I’m not here,” Stone said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “This is not an easy time for any of us. This is a hard time in the world. … So stand up. Stand up and say what you’re worth. I dare you. That’s what courage is.”

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