An outstanding basketball player, a weak promoter of the brand. O'Neal will pay millions to injured investors

One of the most famous basketball players in the world, Shaquille O'Neal, was again at the media attention center, but this time not thanks to his former sports successes. It is about his participation in the promotion of one of the most famous cryptocurrency companies of recent years. The case has a serious legal final and concerns the consequences of celebrity involvement in advertising risky investments.

Former NBA star who once encouraged fans to trust this platform, made a settlement Without confessing. This agreement is one of the first loud legal decisions after the fall of FTX.

Million settlement

Shaquille O'Neal agreed to pay $ 1.8 millionto resolve the claims of investors who stated that the excuse misleader mislead them, promoting the bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange.

The settlement draft, submitted to the Federal Court in Florida, ends with a collective lawsuit, in which O'Neal was accused of presenting FTX as a trustworthy and legal investment tool – especially during live events and in content published in social media – and supporting the promotion of unregistered securities.

The group covered by the lawsuit is everyone who paid funds on FTX or had its own FTT token between May 2019 and the end of 2022.

If the judge conducting the case approves the settlement, the amount of $ 1.8 million will cover all legal fees, administrative and advertising costs, as well as withdrawals to authorized investors. The agreement also provides O'Neal with full release from future responsibility and prohibits him with an investigation of the return of funds from the FTX bankruptcy estate.

In the statement, O'Neal's representative wrote: “We are glad that the case has been completed”

Shaquille O'Neal This is not the only star involved in the case

Unlike other defendants' celebrities in the FTX case – including American football player Tom Brady, models Gisele Bündchen and basketball player Stephen Curry – whose cases were mostly distant, O'Neal remained entangled in proceedings due to difficulties in the effective delivery of court documents.

The Front Office Sports said in February that O'Neal has signed a $ 15 million contract for further participation in the TNT program “Inside the NBA”. In 2022, O'Neal told CNBC that he was in the case of FTX “Only a paid actor in advertising”.

“The Shaq Attack” was one of the defendants in a collective lawsuit, in which it was accused that FTX spokesmen “controlled, promoted, supported or actively participated” in the plan of “aggressive marketing” of this company.

In earlier interviews for CNBC Make It, O'Neal emphasized that avoids cryptocurrencies. He said then: “I don't understand it, so I will probably stay away from it until I understand it fully. In my experience it shows that it is too beautiful to be real.”

The O'Naal case shows that promoting financial products – especially those with high risk – can have consequences even for the most recognizable faces. Although the former basketball player did not plead guilty, the settlement closes one of the most important chapters in the legal settlement after the fall of FTX. It remains the question of how much this story will affect the future celebrities in the selection of brands that promote.

JS

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