NBA star Shaquille O’Neal has entered into a settlement agreement with a group of FTX investors who accused the athlete of facilitating fraud. The former basketball player acted as a celebrity promoter of a bankrupt crypto exchange. Details of the deal, including the amount to be paid by Shaq, were not disclosed.
The plaintiffs demanded up to $21 billion in compensation from O’Neill and other promoters, former executives and persons involved in the exchange.
Former basketball player avoided court couriers for months. The latter had to go to an NBA basketball game where Shaq was a commentator. It was only there that they managed to serve him with a subpoena.
Other defendants in the FTX — case include tennis player Naomi Osaka, baseball player Shohei Ohtani, basketball player Steph Curry, former football player Tom Brady, as well as comedian Larry David, reality TV star Kevin O’Leary, and supermodel Gisele Bündchen.
Seven celebrity promoters and former executives of the crypto exchange reached an agreement with FTX investors back in 2023. Among them are Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, as well as YouTubers Tom Nash, Graham Stephens, and Andrei Jikh. The first wave of settlements was relatively small — $1.4 million.
In 2024 O’Neill and his partners agreed to pay $11 million to the owners of NFT Astral who suffered losses due to the failure of the Solana-based project, which the expatriate also advertised.
Source: Court Listener