Shaquille O'Neal Signs Agreement With FTX Investors to Support Bankrupt Crypto Exchange
The lawsuit names numerous other high-profile promoters, including baseball player Shohei Ohtani, comedian Larry David and model Gisele Bundchen.
Author: Cheyenne Ligon | Edited by: Jesse Hamilton Updated: April 24, 2025, 4:12 PM Published: April 24, 2025, 3:33 PM
Key points:
- Shaquille O'Neal has reached a settlement with FTX investors who accused him of facilitating a fraud by promoting the bankrupt crypto exchange.
- The terms of the settlement, including the amount O'Neill will pay, have not yet been disclosed.
Shaquille O'Neal has reached a settlement with a group of FTX investors who accused him of helping the bankrupt crypto exchange scam the company by acting as a high-profile promoter, a lawsuit alleges.
The details of the settlement, including the amount O'Neal will pay, remain unclear at this time. The plaintiffs are seeking up to $21 billion in damages from O'Neal and other promoters, as well as former executives and other insiders.
The former basketball star turned businessman is just one of many high-profile promoters named in the class action lawsuit. Other athletes, including tennis player Naomi Osaka, baseball player Shohei Ohtani, basketball player Steph Curry and former football player Tom Brady, have also been named as defendants, along with comedian Larry David, Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary and model Gisele Bündchen.
While O'Neal became the first high-profile defendant in the case to agree to a settlement on Wednesday, seven other high-profile promoters and former executives have reached settlements with investors in 2023, including Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence and YouTubers Tom Nash, Graham Stephan and Andrej Djih. The first round of settlements was fairly small, totaling $1.4 million.
O'Neil's settlement with FTX investors is not the first to involve promoting a failed crypto project. Last year, O'Neil and several partners agreed to pay $11 million to holders of the Astral non-fungible token (NFT) who suffered losses in the Solana-based project he founded and promoted.
