Shaquille O’Neal Settles NFT Class Action Lawsuit for $11M
An end may be near for a lawsuit involving Shaquille O’Neal.
As AFROTECH™ previously reported, O’Neal was named in a class action lawsuit filed against the Astrals Project in a Florida federal court in 2023. He was one of the founders of the project, along with music manager Brian Bayati and O’Neal’s son Myles O’Neal.
“Plaintiffs in the billion $ FTX class action case just served @SHAQ outside his house,” the Moskowitz Law Firm shared on X at the time. “His home video cameras recorded our service, and we made it very clear that he is not to destroy or erase any of these security tapes because they must be preserved for our lawsuit.”
The Astrals Project initially launched the “Shaq Signature Pass,” marketed as the “first consumable NFT of its kind,” per The Hollywood Reporter. It claimed the signing technology had “wide-ranging applications.” In total, Astrals included 10,000 NFT (non-fungible token) 3D avatars and a DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) intended for “incubating innovative projects,” with the Galaxy token serving as its governance token, according to Coindesk.
However, the lawsuit flagged that the Astrals tokens for sale were unregistered, thereby violating securities law.
One of the plaintiffs, Daniel Harper, who purchased some of the tokens and allegedly lost money, told Bloomberg Law that O’Neal “should have known of potential concerns about regulatory issues concerning the sale of unregistered crypto securities.” The lawsuit also claimed that O’Neal “extensively promoted various cryptocurrency projects, including FTX and the Astrals Project, to his 30.4 million followers on Instagram and other social media platforms.”
O’Neal addressed the lawsuit, aiming to distance himself from cryptocurrency controversies.
“People know I’m very, very honest. I have nothing to hide. If I was heavily involved, I would be at the forefront saying, ‘Hey.’ But I was just a paid spokesperson,” O’Neal told CNBC Make it.
Now, it appears a resolution is in sight. On Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, plaintiffs filed an “unopposed proposal” to settle the lawsuit against O’Neal for $11 million, according to DL News. The companies behind Astrals are also included in the agreed settlement.
The proposal now awaits approval from a judge.
“With so many NFT and crypto bankruptcies, these great resolutions happen because respected individuals, such as Shaq, step up to help the other crypto victims,” Adam Moskowitz, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told DL News in a statement.
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