Popular basketball star Shaquille O’Neal has agreed to pay $11 million to settle charges in a class-action lawsuit related to the “Astrals” NFT project, which he promoted years ago. According to Monday’s filing, the plaintiffs argued that the NBA star, Shaquille O’Neal, is responsible for “selling unregistered securities.”
Notably, O’Neal’s recent deal is the latest in a growing list of sports and entertainment celebrities facing legal trouble for promoting “malicious” crypto projects.
Likewise, even though the NBA sports icon and television commentator tried several times to dismiss the case filed in a Florida district court during the 2023 crypto market crisis, a supervising judge ruled that the lawsuit could continue because the NFT and governance tokens were “plausible securities.”
Because of this, US District Judge Federico Moreno in Miami ruled in August that both were securities and named O’Neal as a plausible “seller” under “Section 12” of the Securities Act. American values.
It is important to note that “Astrals” was an NFT project that included a collection of 10,000 non-fungible tokens, 3D avatars, and a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to “incubate innovative projects.” Additionally, Astral NFTs could be used as virtual avatars and the “Galaxy” token (GLXY) was the governance token of the DAO.
According to the initial filing, the plaintiffs allege that O’Neal acted as “the face” of the Astrals project, convincing people to buy based on its popularity and urging them to stay, even when the crypto market crashed in November 2022. following the collapse of the FTX Cryptocurrency exchange.
The millionaire agreement that marks the end of the relationship between “Astrals” and Shaquille O’Neal
It should be noted that shortly after the collapse of the FTX exchange, Shaquille O’Neal posted on Discord a GIF from the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” that said: “I’m not going to fucking leave.” However, the plaintiffs allege, the NBA star ultimately abandoned the project, harming investors.
“With so many NFT and cryptocurrency bankruptcies, these resolutions occur because respected people like Shaq step up to help other victims.” Said the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Adam Moskowitz. “Shaquille O’Neal was one of the victims of the failed Astrals and FTX platforms,” he added.
Importantly, in late October, Astrals told members of its Discord community that the lawsuit had created “unsustainable financial strain,” making bankruptcy seem inevitable. As a result, Astrals expressed that it would be forced to begin reducing support for Astrals’ GLXY token, plummeting the prices of NFT collections and its token.
In addition, the presence of the crypto project also decreased on social networks. For reference, the last time Astrals posted on X was in December 2023, stoking investor fears.
On the other hand, US judge Federico Moreno pointed out that the Astrals agreement will resolve the various claims of the class action lawsuit, and the injured parties will be informed about waiting for judicial approval.
Likewise, according to the presentation, the ruling will apply to those investors who, from May 24, 2022, until the preliminary approval date, purchased Astrals NFTs and/or who, before the preliminary approval date, purchased GLXY tokens . In addition, the motion also noted that the plaintiff attorneys will not be able to claim fees and costs that exceed $2.91 million dollars.
Do you want to always be updated in the world of cryptocurrencies? Subscribe now to the CriptoTendencia WhatsApp channel! Here you will instantly receive the most relevant information about Bitcoin, Altcoins, DeFi, NFTs, Blockchain and the Metaverse.
Related
Crypto Keynote USA
For the Latest Crypto News, Follow ©KeynoteUSA on Twitter Or Google News.
