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Tom Brady has joined a company that was recently launched by Declan Kelly, a well-connected crony of the Clinton family who last year was ousted as CEO of the powerful consulting firm Teneo over sexual misconduct.
Brady — who briefly left the NFL in February to focus on family and various ventures including an NFT startup — is joining the disgraced public-relations guru’s new startup as a partner, The Consello Group, according to the firm’s website.
That’s despite the fact that Kelly was forced out of Teneo after he was caught drunkenly cavorting with six employees at a VIP fundraiser led by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex last May, with inappropriate behavior that included “nonconsensual touching of a number of women,” the Financial Times reported at the time.
Kelly also reportedly had conducted a lengthy affair with another colleague at the powerhouse firm he founded in 2011.
A confidante of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Kelly openly peddled his access to the couple, people close to the former Teneo boss told The Post. Kelly’s political ties helped him nab Bill Clinton and former Prime Minister Tony Blair for his Teneo board. Kelly had been appointed Special Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland by Hillary Clinton in 2009.
Until now, the most notable NFL-related headline for the Irish-born Kelly was was when he was caught snoozing at the Super Bowl in 2020. But after stacking Teneo with political types, Kelly now appears to be focusing on athletes.
In addition to Brady. Paul Gasol, a former LA Lakers player and NBA championship winner, is also on Consello’s advisory board.
“Tom Brady is the new Bill Clinton,” one ex-Teneo staffer told The Post.
“I can’t imagine him advising him on important M&A decisions or staying up late to write press releases,” the source said. “But Brady, like Clinton, has the “sparkly glitter that lures clients.”
Kelly has also brought two of his former assistants at Teneo to the new firm, a person with knowledge told The Post. But most other current Teneo staffers haven’t been approached by Kelly about jumping ship, people with knowledge add.
In June, Kelly said he would take time to focus on his health and quit drinking. But it appears his time off was even shorter than Brady’s: In July, less than a month after leaving Teneo, he founded the LLC for his new firm Consello, according to company filings.
Kelly’s new venture includes an investing arm, an M&A advisory and merchant banking division, and a digital currency advisory. When Kelly left Teneo in June, he signed a non-compete clauses that prohibited him from opening a firm too similar to Teneo, sources told The Post.
But the Consello team includes some of Kelly’s top clients at Teneo. Steve Mollenkopf, former chief executive officer at Qualcomm — a company that worked extensively with Teneo — is a partner at the firm, according to the company’s site.
Kelly Kramer, former chief financial officer at Cisco — another longtime Kelly client — is a senior advisor. Oscar Salazar, co-founder and chief technology at Uber is also a partner at the firm.
The emphasis of this group, people told The Post is much more focused on financial services than the communications advising Kelly did at Teneo. Much like Teneo, Kelly is bringing on bankers with deep knowledge of the M&A and crypto space.
Kelly did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Brady has built his business empire in recent year. He has co-founded three companies: NFT startup Autograph.io, apparel group BRADY Brand, and wellness line TB12 Sports. He and his supermodel wife Gisele Bündchen also took a stake in $32 billion crypto exchange FTX last year.
Source: NYPOST
