NBA star Shaq agrees to pay $11 million to settle long simmering class action lawsuit over promoting NFTs

Basketball star Shaquille O’Neal has agreed to pay $11 million to settle charges in a class action suit related to the Astrals NFT project he promoted, according to a filing on Monday. The plaintiffs accused Shaq of peddling unregistered securities.

O’Neal’s settlement is the latest in a growing list of celebrities who’ve faced legal troubles for promoting dubious crypto projects. 

Although the sports icon and TV commentator attempted several times to dismiss the case, filed in a Florida district court during the market doldrums of 2023, the overseeing judge ruled it could continue because the twinned NFTs and governance tokens were plausibly securities.

At the center of the case were 10,000 Solana-based Astrals NFTs and the “Galaxy” token connected to a decentralized autonomous organization. Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno in Miami ruled in August both resembled securities and named O’Neal a plausible “seller” under Section 12 of the Securities Act. 

In the initial filing, plaintiffs note that O’Neal acted as “the face” of the Astrals project, convinced people to buy based on his star power and urged them to stay even as the market crashed in November 2022 following the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange.

On Discord, O’Neal posted a .gif from the movie The Wolf of Wall Street, reading, "I'm not F***ing Leaving.” However, the plaintiffs allege, O’Neal ultimately abandoned the project. 

According to OpenSea, the NFT series has over 2,300 unique owners. 

O’Neal is also one of the named celebrities in a large case involving promoters of the defunct FTX crypto exchange, including former quarterback Tom Brady and comedian Larry David. 

According to Adam Moskowitz of The Moskowitz Law Firm, who represents both Astrial NFT plaintiffs suing O’Neal and the FTX class action, O’Neal attempted to avoid being served in both cases. He was ultimately subpoenaed while broadcasting an NBA game in what was once Miami’s FTX Arena.

If Moreno accepts the $11 million settlement, it will help reimburse Astrial investors and cover their attorney fees.