Shaquille O’Neal to Pay $1.8M in Settlement Over FTX Promotion Lawsuit

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle a class-action lawsuit introduced by traders in the collapsed crypto change FTX, in accordance to a number of media stories this week.

The traders allege that O’Neal misled them by showing in advertisements for the collapsed cryptocurrency change. The payout is about $1 million greater than the $750,000 O’Neal was reportedly paid for his function in an FTX business.

The former basketball star was amongst a number of celebrities, together with Tom Brady and Larry David, who had been sued for selling the change earlier than its collapse in late 2022.

O’Neal has maintained that he was merely a paid actor in the advert, saying after the change’s collapse he was “just a paid spokesperson for a commercial.”

If the settlement is accredited, O’Neal shall be launched from all future claims tied to the lawsuit. He is not going to be allowed to search reimbursement from the FTX chapter property and won’t have to admit any wrongdoing, in accordance to the CNBC report.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of FTX customers who deposited funds between May 2019 and late 2022, earlier than the corporate’s dramatic failure.

FTX’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced to 25 years in jail for defrauding clients and traders. His sentence may very well be lower by over 4 years.