Shaq is finally served in FTX investor suit after months of hiding, lawyers say
Shaquille O'Neal attends the Big 12 basketball tournament championship game between the Texas Longhorns and Kansas Jayhawks on March 11
By Allison Morrow, CNN
After months of attempting to serve Shaquille O’Neal in a lawsuit against celebrities who endorsed the now-bankrupt FTX crypto platform, lawyers for a group of FTX investors said they finally succeeded on Sunday.
“Plaintiffs in the billion $ FTX class action case just served @SHAQ outside his house,” the Moskowitz Law Firm tweeted. “His home video cameras recorded our service and we made it very clear that he is not to destroy or erase any of these security tapes, because they must be preserved for our lawsuit.”
Representatives for O’Neal didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
“A lot of people think I’m involved, but I was just a paid spokesperson for a commercial,” the basketball champion told CNBC in December.
O’Neal was the last of the celebrities in the class-action suit to be served a legal notice, according to court documents. The lawsuit, filed by heavyweight attorney Adam Moskowitz in November, accuses FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, along with several public figures who endorsed the platform — including Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, and Steph Curry — of defrauding investors.
Moskowitz has called FTX “a massive Ponzi scheme,” run by “geniuses at public relations and marketing” who enlisted the help of beloved sports and entertainment figures to promote it.
Last week, a judge denied Moskowitz’s attempt to serve the legal notice to O’Neal via his official Twitter and Instagram accounts after the NBA Hall of Famer repeatedly evaded agents hired to serve the documents in person.
“Mr. O’Neal’s conduct over the last 5 months in evading service in this action is unprecedented, and frankly shocking,” Moskowitz said in the motion last week.
FTX collapsed into bankruptcy on November 11 after depositors and investors yanked their money amid concerns about the platform’s balance sheet. Since then, federal prosecutors have charged Bankman-Fried and several other executives with orchestrating one of the biggest financial frauds in US history. Bankman-Fried, who was arrested in December and is out on house arrest, has pleaded not guilty to 13 counts of fraud and conspiracy. At least three of his former co-workers have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with investigators.
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