Shaquille O’Neal, the former NBA superstar and legendary media icon known for Space Jam, will now face a continuation of court questioning regarding his NFT dealings.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Miami Division, laid out the split decision that showed O’Neal was not a “controlling individual” but did impact the sales of NFTs for company Astrals.
Shaq to face further NFT questions
Court documents showed that after the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX, O’Neal was adamant that he still believed NFTs had a future. In a Discord post, he said, “I’m not F***ing Leaving.”
O’Neal then left Astrals and the NFTs behind until the court case caught up to the court star. His charity, The Shaquille O’Neal Foundation, also participated in his NFT involvement, with a limited 10,000 NFTs as part of the Shaq Gives Back campaign for the charity.
The charity originally said, “Shaquille O’Neal is jumping on the new NFT bandwagon to do good deeds. The NBA legend recently partnered with The Notables to create unique images of himself and sell them.” All mentions of the charity have been deleted from the site.
Judge Moreno, who presided over the case, believed that the evidence pointed toward O’Neal’s massive influence over the sales of the NFTS. Comments such as “Hop on before it’s too late” from the former superstar adjudged him to have a certain influence on people who could invest.
The NBA superstar and Astrals have until September 12 to respond to the allegations that he influenced the market worth and stability of the NFTs.
Adam Moskowitz, the legal representative of the investors who lost their funds in the NFTs, said, “We are extremely fortunate that Judge Moreno authored the first extensive ruling on cryptocurrency and celebrity promotions.”
Image: NBA
