Court ruling may spare Shaquille O'Neal and Naomi Osaka from FTX lawsuit

Court ruling may spare Shaquille O'Neal and Naomi Osaka from FTX lawsuit

Former NBA star Shaquille O'Neal and tennis pro Naomi Osaka could avoid being held accountable in the class action lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange FTX due to a lack of notice.

According to the order issued March 9, U.S. District Judge Kevin Moore said it was unclear whether O'Neal and Osaka were notified of the lawsuit. That's why the judge demanded that the plaintiffs explain why the sports stars shouldn't be dismissed from the lawsuit.

What are Shaquille O'Neal and Naomi Osaka accused of?

Shaquille O'Neal and Naomi Osaka, along with other sports stars and television actors, could be accused of promoting a "fraudulent scheme" through cryptocurrency exchange FTX to take advantage of retail investors with little knowledge of the cryptocurrency world.

Among other celebrities accused of fraud is NFL superstar and seven-time championship ring winner Tom Brady, who acquired a significant stake in FTX and became a partner in a company through a media deal in which he and his wife helped promote the platform, Bloomberg reported.

Brady received 1.1 million FTX shares with a market value of approximately $45 million. At the same time, his wife received shares worth around $25 million.

Both investments became almost worthless overnight with the collapse of the empire of Sam Bankman-fried, who is under house arrest and on trial on multiple financial fraud charges related to the bankruptcy of FTX and its subsidiaries – including trading firm Alameda Research.

Unlike Brady, a well-known cryptocurrency enthusiast and promoter, Shaquille O'Neal explained that he is simply a paid speaker and does not share the same passion for cryptocurrencies as other stars. He even went so far as to say in 2021 that crypto seemed “too good to be true.”

That may be one of the reasons why the judge hasn't been as aggressive toward Shaq.

The lawsuit against the FTX promoters will continue as planned

Judge Kevin Moore indicated that the lawsuit will proceed as planned because the defendants (including Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen, Kevin O'Leary and Trevor Lawrence) are not the ones who should request a postponement of the conference. It is the responsibility of plaintiffs who have not already done so to file this motion.

On March 8, the judge denied the request to consolidate other lawsuits against FTX, arguing that the defendants were not yet willing to answer for their crimes.

As reported byCryptoPotatoSam Bankman-Fried's lawyers may be planning to request a change of trial date amid mounting evidence of his involvement in the million-dollar FTX scam and the accumulation of four new fraud and money laundering charges (in addition to the eight he already had).

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