Shaq Hit With Lawsuits Over Solana NFT Project, FTX During NBA Game

Basketball icon Shaquille O’Neal was delivered authorized papers for 2 separate lawsuits within the broader crypto and NFT realm on Tuesday—and was served whereas broadcasting an NBA recreation at what as soon as was Miami’s FTX Area. 

One of many lawsuits facilities on celebrities that promoted the collapsed cryptocurrency trade FTX, together with different high-profile defendants like former NFL quarterback Tom Brady and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” TV star Larry David.

But, the opposite criticism focuses particularly on O’Neal and his NFT undertaking, Astrals, launched final March. The lawsuit alleges that Astrals NFTs supplied on the market had been unregistered securities and connected to guarantees made by the previous NBA participant.

The 2 lawsuits introduced in opposition to O’Neal are led by The Moskowitz Legislation Agency and Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, who’re working in tandem. Following accusations that Shaq was evading course of servers and stifling courtroom procedures, lawyer Adam Moskowitz mentioned that authorized actions can now proceed.

“It’s good that we will begin with the deserves, as an alternative of the foolish service sideshow Mr. O’Neal sadly created,” Moskowitz mentioned in a written assertion offered to Decrypt. “It appears absurd to need to go to such nice lengths to serve Mr. O’Neal.”

The Moskowitz Legislation Agency mentioned O’Neal had the method server “kicked out” of the Miami Warmth’s stadium after he was served, including that the occasion was filmed to “guarantee there was no ambiguity.”

Representatives for O’Neal didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark from Decrypt.

Moskowitz’s regulation agency mentioned final month that it had lastly served  O’Neal in relation to the FTX lawsuit, however O’Neal’s legal professionals shot again weeks in the past, claiming authorized paperwork had been thrown on the NBA star’s automotive as an alternative of being delivered to him personally.

In the meantime, the 54-page criticism in opposition to O’Neal for his possession of Astrals incorporates six whole claims, accusing the previous NBA icon of violating legal guidelines like Florida’s Misleading and Unfair Commerce Practices Act and the Virginia Shopper Safety Act. 

In the end, the criticism claims that Astrals NFTs—distinctive digital tokens that signify the possession of an merchandise, typically digital artwork—ought to be thought-about unregistered securities underneath the U.S. Securities and Change Fee’s Howey Check. The method for figuring out whether or not one thing constitutes a safety will be traced again to 1946.

“The fortunes of the Astrals NFT buyers, and the worth of the Astrals NFTs, had been linked nearly totally to O’Neal’s movie star standing and the success of his promotional efforts,” the criticism states.

The criticism incorporates pages upon pages of Shaq’s involvement within the digital property business, documenting his foray into the Web3 house and the way Astrals allegedly led buyers astray.

Astrals, a Solana-based NFT undertaking, comprised 10,000 “metaverse-ready” avatars that will be supported by a DAO and a “story-driven, play-to-earn role-playing recreation,” in line with a piece of the undertaking’s white paper included within the criticism.

The undertaking was the brainchild of O’Neal, the lawsuit claims, and the appointment of O’Neal’s son, Myles O’Neal, because the undertaking’s head of investor relations alerts that the Astrals workforce seen and portrayed the NFT undertaking as a advertising and marketing alternative.

The criticism focuses on the assorted methods O’Neal promoted the undertaking—on social media and through musical performances as DJ Diesel—and the way he stopped partaking with the undertaking’s neighborhood after the collapse of FTX.

The final time O’Neal engaged with Astral’s neighborhood was on January 2 by the undertaking’s Discord server, the lawsuit claims, when he allegedly posted a GIF from the movie “The Wolf of Wall Avenue” captioned “I’m not fucking leaving.”