Former NBA participant Shaquille O’Neal can pay $1.8 million to settle a category motion lawsuit associated to the demise of cryptocurrency change FTX.
O’Neal, and different celebrities like Tom Brady and Stephen Curry, have been named within the lawsuit in 2022. They’d been accused of touting FTX as a good and reliable funding choice by way of paid endorsements. The proposed settlement solely pertains to O’Neal.
Three years in the past FTX was the third-largest cryptocurrency change, nevertheless it ended up with billions of {dollars} price of losses and needed to search chapter safety. The Bahamas-based firm and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, got here underneath investigation by state and federal authorities for allegedly investing depositors funds in ventures with out their approval.
Earlier than its failure, FTX was identified to make use of high-profile Hollywood and sports activities celebrities to advertise its merchandise. It had the naming rights to a Method One racing staff in addition to a sports activities enviornment in Miami. Its commercials featured “Seinfeld” creator Larry David, in addition to Brady, the previous quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New England Patriots, basketball gamers O’Neal and Curry, and tennis star Naomi Osaka.
Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in jail in March 2024. A bit greater than a month after that, FTX mentioned in a court docket submitting that just about all of its clients would obtain the cash again that they have been owed.
Whereas the proposed settlement with O’Neal had been agreed to in April, the cost quantity and different phrases have been disclosed in a submitting with the U.S. District Courtroom, Southern District of Florida, Miami Division, earlier this week.
The settlement class contains anybody who deposited funds into FTX or purchased its FTT token between Might 2019 and late 2022.
The settlement, which nonetheless wants court docket approval, would supply O’Neal with a broad launch from future claims and likewise features a stipulation that he can’t search reimbursement from the FTX property.
The cost can be made inside 30 days of the settlement being finalized, in response to the submitting.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
