Shaquille O’Neal has agreed to pay $1.8 million to resolve allegations tied to his promotion of the now-defunct cryptocurrency trade FTX, marking a uncommon celeb settlement within the wider authorized fallout from the platform’s collapse.
Filed in a Florida federal court docket, the proposed settlement would finish a category motion lawsuit that accused the previous NBA star of selling FTX as a secure and dependable funding, significantly via high-profile occasions and social media campaigns.
All-Inclusive Deal
The plaintiffs within the case are FTX customers who deposited funds or bought the trade’s proprietary token, FTT, between Might 2019 and late 2022. Throughout this era, the corporate had aggressively expanded its attain via celeb endorsements. Not like different endorsers similar to Tom Brady, Steph Curry, and Naomi Osaka, whose instances have been largely dismissed or unresolved, O’Neal remained legally entangled after a chronic effort to serve him court docket papers.
Whereas O’Neal denies any wrongdoing, the proposed settlement is structured to be remaining. The complete quantity will cowl legal professional charges, administrative prices, and funds to affected traders. The settlement additionally prevents him from pursuing compensation from the FTX chapter property – a clause that successfully severs any future authorized or monetary entanglement with the case.
FTX, as soon as the world’s third-largest crypto trade, imploded in 2022 amid allegations that its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, misused billions in buyer deposits. In March 2024, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in jail, whereas the corporate has since claimed that it is going to be in a position to repay most customers.
Last Chapter
O’Neal had beforehand distanced himself from crypto markets, stating in interviews that he lacked understanding of the know-how and was merely a paid spokesperson. Regardless of this, his involvement in promotional content material, particularly throughout FTX’s remaining phases, turned a central factor within the lawsuit, which argued that his celeb endorsement contributed to the general public notion of FTX as a professional funding.
The deal wouldn’t solely carry closure to O’Neal’s involvement but additionally set up a precedent for the way high-profile celeb endorsements within the crypto trade could also be scrutinized transferring ahead, if permitted by the court docket. In the meantime, the cost is due inside 30 days of judicial approval, closing a chapter on O’Neal’s ties to certainly one of crypto’s most infamous failures.
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