Shaquille O’Neal agrees to $1.8 million settlement over promotion of crypto exchange FTX

For months, Shaquille O’Neal did everything he could to evade being served with a class-action lawsuit brought by FTX investors over his role in promoting the failed crypto exchange.

However, like many people who get involved in crypto, he ultimately ended up handing over a bunch of money in the end.

It was announced in April that O’Neal and FTX investors had reached a settlement, but the terms weren’t disclosed until Monday, when it was learned that the Inside the NBA analyst agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle claims against him.

O’Neal had reportedly been paid around $750,000 to promote FTX, which was revealed to be a giant Ponzi scheme in late 2022.

The NBA legend had successfully evaded service of the lawsuit for months after it was initially filed in November. The plaintiffs even asked the court permission to serve O’Neal digitally and allegedly threw legal documents at O’Neal’s car as he drove through the gates of his Georgia home.

The lawsuit included many other celebrities and athletes, including Tom Brady, Larry David, Gisele Bündchen, Steph Curry, David Ortiz, Shohei Ohtani, and Naomi Osaka. Most of those cases had already been dismissed, but O’Neal’s situation lingered due to his long-running evasion of lawsuit service.

If the judge approves the settlement, O’Neal’s $1.8 million will cover all legal fees, notice and administration costs, and payouts to eligible investors. The arrangement also releases him from future liability and includes a provision barring him from seeking reimbursement from the FTX bankruptcy estate.

“We are pleased to have this matter behind us,” a legal representative for O’Neal said in a statement, via CNBC.

While O’Neal was featured in ads for FTX, saying he was “excited to be partnering with FTX to help make crypto accessible for everyone,” he would later say that he had no idea how crypto worked and that he had no plans to invest in it.