Shaq hit with lawsuit over Solana NFT project, FTX during NBA game

Basketball icon Shaquille O’Neal was served legal papers for two separate lawsuits in the broader crypto and NFT realm on Tuesday — served while broadcasting an NBA game at what was once Miami’s FTX Arena.

One of the lawsuits involves celebrities who promoted the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, including other high-profile defendants such as former NFL quarterback Tom Brady and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” TV star Larry David.

Yet the other complain focuses specifically on O’Neal and his NFT project, Astrals, launched last March. The lawsuit alleges that Astral’s NFTs offered for sale were unregistered securities and tied to promises made by the former NBA player.

The two lawsuits against O’Neal are being led by The Moskowitz Law Firm and Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, working together. After accusations that Shaq was avoid process servers and suffocating court procedures, attorney Adam Moskowitz said legal action can now proceed.

“It’s good that we can start with the benefits, instead of the stupid service sideshow that Mr. O’Neal unfortunately created,” Moskowitz said in a written statement provided to Decrypt. “It seems absurd to have to go to such lengths to serve Mr. O’Neal.”

Law firm Moskowitz said O’Neal had the process server “kicked out” of the Miami Heat’s stadium after he was served, adding that the event was videotaped to “ensure there was no ambiguity.”

Representatives for O’Neal did not immediately respond to requests for comment Decrypt.

Moskowitz’s law firm said last month that it had finally served O’Neal in relation to the FTX lawsuit, but O’Neal’s lawyers fired back weeks ago, claiming legal documents were thrown at the NBA star’s car instead of being delivered to him personally.

Meanwhile, the 54-page complaint against O’Neal for his ownership of Astral contains six total claims, accusing the former NBA icon of violating laws such as Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.

Ultimately, the complaint alleges that Astral’s NFTs – unique digital tokens that indicate ownership of an object, often digital art – should be considered unregistered securities under the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Howey test. The process of determining whether something constitutes a security can be traced back to 1946.

“The fortunes of the Astrals NFT investors, and the value of the Astrals NFTs, were related almost exclusively to O’Neal’s celebrity status and the success of his promotional efforts,” the complaint states.

The complaint contains pages upon pages of Shaq’s involvement in the digital asset industry, documenting his foray into the Web3 space and how Astrals allegedly misled investors.

Astrals, a Solana-based NFT project, consisted of 10,000 “metaverse-ready” avatars that would be supported by a DAO and a “story-driven, play-to-earn RPG,” according to part of the project’s white paper included in the complaint.

The project was the brainchild of O’Neal, the lawsuit claims, and the appointment of O’Neal’s son, Myles O’Neal, as the project’s head of investor relations signals that the Astrals team viewed and portrayed the NFT project as a marketing opportunity.

The complaint focuses on the various ways O’Neal promoted the project — on social media and during musical appearances as DJ Diesel — and how he stopped engaging with the project’s community after the collapse of FTX.

The last time O’Neal engaged with Astral’s community was on Jan. 2 through the project’s Discord server, the lawsuit alleges, when he allegedly posted a GIF from the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” with the caption “I’m not leaving.”