Shaquille O’Neal Served With FTX-Related Lawsuit At NBA Playoff Game After Dodging Servers For Months
NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, who had been evading legal proceedings for months, has finally been served in a case related to the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. The legal documents were delivered to O’Neal, who currently serves as an analyst on “Inside the NBA,” during the broadcast of a playoff game between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics in Miami, CBS reported.
Adam Moskowitz, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, confirmed the service of the complaint on Tuesday.
The class-action lawsuit accuses O’Neal and other celebrities of defrauding investors of FTX by endorsing the crypto-trading platform in their advertisements. Moskowitz revealed that O’Neal had been deliberately evading the process servers for months before being located at the Kaseya Center where the game was taking place.
To ensure the smooth progression of the case, a process server recorded the event.
“They gave video of most of the service (not all), so we would be shocked if they raise any problems,” said Moskowitz, per CBS News. “We also now served a copy on his lawyer Bobby Martinez, so there can be no doubt he is served!”
After the service, O’Neal reportedly ordered the process server to be escorted from the arena.
Process servers believed they had successfully served the NBA Hall of Famer back in April. However, O’Neal recently filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that he had never actually received the legal documents.
During the game on Tuesday night, O’Neal was also served with a second complaint. This new complaint alleges that both O’Neal and his son were involved in promoting an NFT project called ASTRALS before abruptly abandoning it, as stated by Moskowitz.
“The allegations in the new crypto complaint are very serious and detail how him, his son and his business partner all founded this NFT Metaverse and he made promises every week that he would be extremely involved, so the value of the NFTs would grow greatly,” Moskowitz said. “Once the FTX fraud was revealed, he ran away and has not been heard since.”
