Shaquille O’Neal Still Trapped in 2YO NFT Lawsuit: Analyzing the High-Profile FTX Bankruptcy Case

For as long as Shaquille O’Neal has been in the limelight, he’s rarely spoken about matters off the court. When the multi-hyphenate entrepreneur talks about businesses, investments, and his personal life, he’s guarded to a fair degree. Now he might have to get straightforward about one of his past business dealings. The drama from FTX, crypto-collapse, and Astral FTX has haunted Shaq for over two years. With no end in sight, he is looking at a court summons.

Latest reports state that O’Neal would have to defend himself in the ongoing lawsuit. The court dismissed allegations that the NBA legend had any control in the dealings but has granted another part of the class action lawsuit.

The latest development in the Shaq-FTX saga

There’s both good and bad news for Shaquille O’Neal’s legal team. The US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Miami Division, where the class action lawsuit for his role in the Astrals NFT project is filed, has both granted and dismissed parts of the suit. But first, some context.

When ‘Non-Fungible Tokens,’ aka NFTs, were the trendiest trade in the past decade, Astrals had 10,000 of them on various sub-projects. The aftermath of the crypto-collapse led to extensive litigations about cryptocurrency and celebrity promotions. This lawsuit alleged that Astrals sold tokens as unregistered “securities.” 

The lawsuit alleged two things – Shaq promoted it as the face of Astrals and secondly, he was called a “control person” who exercised some decision-making in the dealings. The court shut down the latter allegation.

The cryptocurrency exchange FTX collapsed in November 2022. At the time, Shaq sent out GIFs from The Wolf of Wall Street on Discord that said, “I’m not f***ing leaving.” But when FTX and Astrals crumbled, Shaq distanced himself and stopped promoting it. The lawsuit alleges that Astral’s value plummeted.

The situation has led the court to identify O’Neal as a “seller” who successfully solicited the purchase of Astral’s products. He is now expected to present his defense as a promoter. The 4x NBA champion’s camp has until September 12, 2024, to respond to the lawsuit, as per CoinDesk. How it got there is as dramatic as anything in Shaq-lore.

A timeline of Shaquille O’Neal and crypto

Although one of the earliest investors to profit off Google, O’Neal previously expressed hesitation about tech investments. It took him a while just to get on the AI bandwagon as well. Despite his early apprehensions about crypto, he delved into it along with other big names, including Stephen Curry.

In 2021, Shaq said he didn’t understand crypto and declined offers to endorse it. Then later that year, he started promoting NFTs connected to crypto platforms. He even starred in a commercial in mid-2022 which came with a tagline, “I’m all in. Are you?” Astrals launched in March 2022 and eventually got O’Neal involved in promotions.

Then the crypto empire crashed like a house of cards. Shaq followed it up with an interview on CNBC in December 2022 where he said, “A lot of people think I’m involved, but I was just a paid spokesperson for a commercial.” He pretty much implied he still doesn’t believe in crypto. From one perspective, it is Shaq’s operating policy to get a stock option in his endorsement deals instead of a straight payment. So he doesn’t have to believe in the business to get a stake in it.

However, the American legal system’s POV is FTX utilizing its celebrity investors like Shaq and Curry to get more customers. When FTX filed for bankruptcy that November, as many as one million creditors were worried about getting their money back. So several celebrity backers were served. But process-servers could not reach O’Neal on his cross-country schedules.

Shaq was with the TNT crew during the Eastern Conference Finals in 2023 between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics. He was served with lawsuits regarding FTX and Astrals in the Miami arena, then ironically named FTX Center before it was renamed to Kaseya Center. Earlier that week, he and Curry joked on TNT about the FTX debacle and O’Neal claimed he did the 2022 ad because of the Warriors titan. Curry was also served in the suit.

Proceedings related to O’Neal and this situation have not been public information. But the recent summon is an indication that despite distancing himself from FTX and Astrals, he’s still in hot water.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.