Shaquille O’Neal Reaches Secret FTX Lawsuit Settlement with Investors

Big news in the ongoing fallout from the FTX collapse: Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal has reached a settlement with investors who filed a lawsuit against him. These investors claim they lost money due to the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, which O’Neal had promoted.

Shaquille O’Neal Settles FTX Lawsuit

According to a court filing on April 23 in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Shaquille O’Neal has settled the claims against him in the FTX investor lawsuit. While the settlement is confirmed, the specific terms, including the amount, are being kept confidential for now. The details are expected to be released once the investors formally seek preliminary court approval for the agreement.

Understanding the Broader FTX Promoters Lawsuit

This specific settlement is part of a much larger legal action. Investors are pursuing a multidistrict litigation effort, seeking significant damages from individuals and entities they allege were involved with or promoted FTX. The total amount sought in this broader celebrity lawsuit and others related to FTX insiders, advisers, and promoters could reach up to $21 billion. This figure is substantially higher than the roughly $9.2 billion currently available through the FTX bankruptcy proceedings.

Shaquille O’Neal was one of several high-profile figures named in lawsuits related to promoting FTX. Other notable personalities include:

• NFL quarterback Tom Brady
• Supermodel Gisele Bündchen
• Investor Kevin O’Leary
• The Golden State Warriors basketball team
• Udonis Haslem
• David Ortiz
• Naomi Osaka

These individuals and entities faced accusations that their endorsements encouraged people to invest in FTX, contributing to their losses when the exchange failed.

Challenges in Serving Shaquille O’Neal

One notable aspect of the early stages of the FTX lawsuit against O’Neal was the difficulty lawyers had in formally serving him with the legal papers. For months, attorneys reportedly struggled to deliver the documents required to make him an official party to the case regarding his promotion of the collapsed exchange.

Another Crypto Settlement: The Astrals NFT Case

This crypto settlement</a_Neal also recently resolved a separate class-action lawsuit. That case involved his promotion of the Solana-based Astrals NFT project. In May 2023, O’Neal was successfully served with the Astrals NFT lawsuit papers during an NBA game held at the Kaseya Center in Miami, which was formerly known as the FTX Arena. The lawsuit alleged that the NFTs he promoted were unregistered securities. A judge in Miami ruled in August 2024 that O’Neal would need to defend against some of the claims in that specific case, before the recent settlement was reached.

Shaquille O’Neal’s decision to settle the FTX lawsuit removes one defendant from the complex web of litigation surrounding the exchange’s collapse. While the confidential nature of the crypto settlement terms means we don’t know the financial impact on O’Neal or the investors in this specific case, it signals a desire to resolve the matter outside of a lengthy trial. The broader lawsuit targeting FTX promoters and others continues, with investors still pursuing significant damages beyond the available bankruptcy funds. This case highlights the legal risks associated with celebrity endorsements in the volatile cryptocurrency space.