The Moskowitz law firm tweeted that basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal has been given a class-action lawsuit against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. The service of the lawsuit was captured by video cameras at O’Neal’s home and the law firm instructed Shaq not to delete or destroy the footage. The lawyers claimed that O’Neal had been avoiding their process servers for three months before finally being served outside his home in Atlanta. O’Neal has not yet commented on the matter, and has been unable to reach him for a statement.
According to the Moskowitz law firm, they attempted to serve Shaquille O’Neal the lawsuit by leaving comments on his social media accounts, but the basketball player was avoiding the process servers for three months. A judge also denied a motion to allow Shaq to be electronically served earlier this month. Edwin Garrison, an FTX customer from Oklahoma, filed the case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and the attorneys handling the case are Adam Moskowitz and David Boies. The Block initially reported the news, with Moskowitz stating that they took the judge’s instructions seriously and are glad the process is over.
The FTC and SEC had warned these high profile celebrities in 2017, that if they are promoting crypto currencies without publicly disclosing they are a “paid endorser”, they would be potentially committing a crime in aiding and embedding an unregistered security. As a result, O’Neal, along with other celebrities such as Kevin O’Leary, Tom Brady, and Steph Curry, are facing a class-action lawsuit for promoting a fraudulent scheme related to FTX. When FTX collapsed, O’Neal stated that he was merely a paid spokesperson for a commercial.
