In brief
- O’Neal will pay $1.8 million to settle a lawsuit tied to promoting FTX.
- Plaintiffs alleged he helped market unregistered securities.
- The deal includes broad legal immunity and covers legal costs.
Shaquille O’Neal has agreed to pay out $1.8 million in a class action lawsuit alleging he helped promote the collapsed crypto exchange FTX.
The retired NBA star initially settled the case in principle in April without admitting wrongdoing in a Florida federal court. Shortly after, several other cases against FTX-linked celebrities saw their claims narrowed, although investors were permitted to re-plead their claims.
The latest deal, if approved by the court, would officially end the class action and cover legal fees, administrative costs, and compensation to investors who deposited money or held FTX’s token, FTT, between May 2019 and late 2022.
It also grants O’Neal a sweeping release from future liability and bars him from seeking repayment from the FTX bankruptcy estate.
Lawyers for O’Neal told CNBC they were “pleased to have this matter behind us.”
The class action stems from claims that O’Neal “actively participated” in promoting FTX’s offer and sale of unregistered securities. He once appeared in a now-infamous commercial declaring he was “all in” on the platform, despite later stating he didn’t fully understand crypto.
Feet to the fire
The lawsuit was part of a broader legal effort to hold celebrities accountable for endorsing FTX before its collapse in late 2022.
Plaintiffs allege that figures like O’Neal helped portray FTX as trustworthy and legitimate, encouraging adoption of a platform that ultimately failed, leaving billions in customer assets missing.
Other celebrities named in similar suits include NFL stars Tom Brady and Trevor Lawrence, tennis champion Naomi Osaka and Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary. Some, including Lawrence and YouTubers Tom Nash and Kevin Paffrath, have already reached undisclosed settlements.
O’Neal previously faced scrutiny for dodging legal service in the FTX case, with attorneys from the Moskowitz Law Firm reportedly staking out the TNT studios in Atlanta to deliver the complaint.
Court documents show O’Neal was paid roughly $750,000 for his promotional work with FTX.
This isn’t O’Neal’s only crypto-related legal issue. In 2024, he agreed to an $11 million settlement over his promotion of the Astrals NFT project, which plaintiffs claimed he abandoned after promoting it.
FTX, once valued in the tens of billions, collapsed in 2022 amid allegations of fraud and mismanagement by founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
The company’s bankruptcy filings revealed massive spending on marketing deals, including a $135 million naming rights agreement for the Miami Heat’s arena and over $6 million on a 30-second Super Bowl ad.
Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March 2024.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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