NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal was one of the most dominant players to ever set foot on a basketball court -- but as a 7-footer weighing over 300 pounds, it certainly wasn’t because he was elusive.
Yet in the class action lawsuit filed by the state of Florida regarding the FTX cryptocurrency scandal, O’Neal reportedly spent multiple months successfully dodging prosecutors.
But on Tuesday night, O’Neal was finally served. Lawyers knew O’Neal would be part of the broadcast crew for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals series between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics, so they awaited him at the arena and served him the papers before the game.
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The game just so happened to be played in the Miami Heat’s home arena, Kaseya Center, which earlier in the season was called FTX Arena.
“We watched the prior Heat/Celtics game, so knew [Shaq] would be in the outside broadcasting booth where fans were right next door,” lawyer Adam Moskowitz told Front Office Sports. “He was personally provided the papers, so he cannot raise his absurd delay tactics.”
O’Neal is among a long list of famous athletes involved in the lawsuit seeking $1 billion in damages for promoting the now-defunct Crypto company. Some of these athletes are Tom Brady, Naomi Osaka, and Steph Curry. But before Tuesday night, only O’Neal had not been served the papers.
Moskowitz said his firm attempted to serve Shaq at his personal residence, but O’Neal’s lawyers said the papers were thrown at O’Neal’s vehicle and landed on a public road.
O’Neal was also served with a second lawsuit on Tuesday involving an NFT platform he founded in 2022 called ‘Astrals Project.’ The suit is seeking $15 million in damages as investors claim O’Neal was violating security laws by selling unregistered tokens.
