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NBA Corridor of Famer and TV character Shaquille O’Neal has been accused of avoiding being served a class-action lawsuit filed in opposition to celebrities who endorsed failed cryptocurrency large FTX.
The previous Los Angeles Lakers star was one in every of a number of high-profile celebrities — together with Steph Curry, Tom Brady, Giselle Bundchen and Larry David — listed within the lawsuit filed by FTX retail investor Edwin Garrison, who claimed his crypto account went bankrupt after “being uncovered to” the superstar endorsements.
Garrison’s attorneys revealed that out of all of the celebrities named within the go well with, O’Neal was the only particular person avoiding the attorneys and famous that the allegations in opposition to him had been among the many most damning.
“It's actually astonishing the measures he has gone to keep away from service of our grievance,” lawyer Adam Moskowitz instructed Forbes. “The irony is that the admitted details in opposition to him are in all probability the worst in opposition to any of the FTX Model Ambassadors.”
In an electronic mail despatched out to the defendants on Tuesday, Garrison’s lawyer’s referred to as out O’Neal, writing: “Now we have spent nice efforts (4 completely different service firms) making an attempt to get you all served with our Criticism.
“Just one, nonetheless, has chosen to evade service, with a purpose to draw out these proceedings, or to in any other case try to keep away from answering for these allegations,” the attorneys wrote.
A consultant for O’Neal didn't instantly reply to The Submit’s request for remark.
O’Neal was among the many largest celebrities touted FTX’s providers final yr, with the previous basketball star internet hosting a Tremendous Bowl Celebration at “Shaq’s Enjoyable Home” in Los Angeles as a part of his partnership with the corporate.
O’Neal continued to advertise the corporate on Twitter, and in June, he appeared as an official FTX model ambassador with the tagline touting: “I’m all in. Are you?”
On November 11, the crypto large crashed and filed for chapter, with its CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrested and charged by federal authorities in December, who allege he swindled buyers and clients out of billions of dollars by commingling funds into Alameda, a hedge fund he managed.
That very same month, O’Neal tried to distance himself from the corporate, alleging that he was only a “paid spokesperson.”
“Lots of people assume I’m concerned, however I used to be only a paid spokesperson for a industrial,” O’Neal instructed CNBC.
Garrison’s attorneys, nonetheless, claimed that O’Neal was glad to advertise the corporate whereas allegedly retaining his personal funds away from it.
“He admitted that his buddy Steph Curry referred to as him, instructed him he might make tens of millions of dollars, if he simply served as a FTX Model Ambassador and lied in a tv industrial, that he was ‘all in’ with FTX, when he admitted that personally, he wouldn't go close to cryptocurrency,” Moskowitz claimed.
The opposite defendants listed within the lawsuit embrace the Golden State Warriors, the Miami Warmth’s Udonis Haslem, tennis participant Naomi Osaka, Los Angeles Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani, Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, former MLB star David Ortiz, entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary and Bankman-Buddy.
The lawsuit claims that the defendants ” by no means disclosed the character, scope, and quantity of compensation they personally obtained in change for the promotion” of FTX.
The defendants are anticipated to answer the go well with by April 14.
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