After months of evading service, NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal was finally served legal papers in late April as part of a lawsuit surrounding the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency platform.
According to the Miami-based Moskowitz Law Firm, Shaq had been “running from [the firm] for three months” as they attempted to serve him legal paper for his role in promoting FTX.[2] Due to his multiple attempts at evading them, the firm attempted to serve legal notice to Shaq via his official Twitter and Instagram accounts, but the judge overseeing the case denied their attempt to do so.[3] The firm stated that after unsuccessfully waiting for him for over a week outside of TNT’s Atlanta studio, they finally managed to serve their legal complaint on the “NBA on TNT” analysis outside of his home.[4]
According to the firm, Shaq was the last of the celebrities named in the class-action lawsuit to be served a legal notice, and the only celebrity endorser to actively evade them.[5] The proposed class action lawsuit in question was filed in November and named FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, as well as a plethora of celebrities who were paid to promote the cryptocurrency company, such as Tom Brady, Steph Curry, Larry David, Shohei Ohtani, and Shaquille O’Neal.[6] The lawsuit claims that FTX was built upon false representations and deceptive conduct, and was designed to take advantage of unsophisticated investors from across the country. The lawsuit claims that the celebrity investor defendants such as Shaq “made numerous misrepresentations and omissions … in order to induce confidence and to drive consumers to invest in what was ultimately a Ponzi scheme.”[7] The lawsuit was filed in the Southern Federal District Court of Florida and alleged over $11 billion in damages to United States consumers from the collapse and bankruptcy of the cryptocurrency exchange platform.[8]
The promotion in question that landed Shaq in hot-water was from a video posted on FTX’s official Twitter account in which he said “I’m excited to be partnering with FTX to help make crypto accessible for everyone. I’m all in. Are you?”[9] The lawsuit claims that FTX needed to use stars like Shaq to attract consumers to the platform and ultimately funnel their investments into the “FTX Ponzi scheme.” [10]
While Shaq initially attempted to separate himself from the lawsuit by publicly claiming that “A lot of people think I’m involved, but I was just a paid spokesperson for a commercial,” the full extent of his involvement in the defunct company will only be revealed as the case progresses and discovery unfolds.
[1] Photograph: https://frontofficesports.com/shaq-finally-tracked-down-served-for-role-in-ftx-lawsuit/
[2] Id.
[3] https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/17/business/shaq-ftx-lawsuit/index.html
[4] Id.
[5] https://frontofficesports.com/shaq-finally-tracked-down-served-for-role-in-ftx-lawsuit/
[6] https://www.businessinsider.com/lawsuit-hits-ftx-celeb-endorsers-like-tom-brady-steph-curry-2022-11
[7] https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/garrison-sbf-11152022.pdf
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
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