NBA Legend Shaquille O'Neal to Pay $1.8M to Settle Allegations He Promoted Unregistered Cryptocurrency Exchange FTX

The proposed settlement, filed in Florida federal court on Wednesday, resolves a class action lawsuit without O'Neal admitting wrongdoing.

Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal, often known as Shaq, will pay $1.8 million to settle allegations that he promoted unregistered securities through his endorsement of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

What Happened: The proposed settlement, filed in Florida federal court on Wednesday, resolves a class action lawsuit without O’Neal admitting wrongdoing. The deal marks one of the first high-profile celebrity settlements stemming from FTX's November 2022 bankruptcy, reported CNBC.

Plaintiffs accused the NBA superstar of presenting FTX as a trustworthy investment platform through live events and social media content. The class action covers investors who deposited funds into FTX or held its proprietary FTT token between May 2019 and late 2022.

Court documents show FTX paid O'Neal nearly $750,000 for his promotional efforts. O'Neal previously told CNBC in 2022 that "he was just a paid spokesperson for a commercial" regarding his FTX involvement.

The $1.8 million settlement will cover all legal fees, administrative costs, and investor payouts if approved by the court. The agreement includes broad liability protection for O'Neal and bars him from seeking reimbursement from the FTX bankruptcy estate.

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Why It Matters: Unlike other celebrity endorsers, including Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen, and Stephen Curry, whose cases were largely dismissed, O'Neal remained entangled in litigation after a prolonged effort to serve him legal papers.

The settlement follows O'Neal's $11 million payout in November 2024 related to his promotion of the Astrals NFT project, highlighting ongoing legal challenges for celebrity crypto endorsers.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried received a 25-year federal prison sentence in March 2024 for orchestrating what prosecutors called an "11 billion fraud" involving customer deposits. His projected release date is December 14, 2044, reflecting good conduct time credits that could reduce his sentence by over four years.

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