Reports emerged this week that basketball icon Shaquille O’Neal is settling his FTX class-action lawsuit by agreeing to pay investors of the doomed crypto exchange nearly $2 million.
Shaquille O’Neal Becomes First Celebrity Set To Finalize FTX Lawsuit
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the proposed settlement would see the former Los Angeles Lakers player pay $1.8 million to affected FTX investors.
O’Neal was hit with the lawsuit by users of the crypto exchange in May 2023 after he appeared in an FTX commercial in 2022, just months before the brainchild of Sam Bankman-Fried became insolvent.
“We are pleased to have this matter behind us,” O’Neal’s lawyers told CNBC.
Tom Brady, Kevin O’Leary, and More Dragged Into SBF Drama
O’Neal’s settlement marks the first litigation closure in what could be a series of high-profile lawsuits tied to FTX’s years-long crypto fraud scheme.
Just last month, a Florida federal judge dismissed several claims against celebrities who promoted FTX ahead of its November 2022 downfall, including Gisele Bündchen, Tom Brady, Stephen Curry, and Kevin O’Leary.
O’Neal cleared up any involvement in FTX’s multibillion-dollar fraud scheme shortly after the crypto exchange’s collapse.
“A lot of people think I’m involved, but I was just a paid spokesperson for a commercial,” he said in a statement at the time.
Where Is SBF Now?
Bankman-Fried is serving a 25-year prison sentence for orchestrating the digital asset scheme after a whirlwind 2023 trial that saw several key associates, including his ex-girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, testify against him.
The one-time “king of crypto” is currently behind bars at FCI Terminal Island in his home state of California after his appeal was rejected in late 2024.
“He was presumed guilty—before he was even charged,” lawyers for Bankman-Fried said in the 2024 brief.
Ellison, meanwhile, is serving a two-year sentence at Danbury FCI in Connecticut after she struck a cooperation deal with the federal government in a bid to receive a reduced sentence.
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