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Basketball icon Shaquille O’Neal has agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle a lawsuit linked to collapsed crypto exchange FTX. He becomes one of the first celebrities to make a financial settlement in the wave of legal actions that followed the platform’s high-profile failure.
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Shaquille O’Neal, better known as “Shaq,” has paid $1.8 million to settle accusations tied to his role in promoting the now-defunct crypto platform FTX. The lawsuit claimed that O’Neal helped market FTX and played a part in making the platform look trustworthy to retail investors.
O’Neal, a former NBA star and now a television personality and businessman, had appeared in commercials for FTX. In one ad, he stated that he was “all in.” However, after the collapse, he said he had little understanding of cryptocurrency.
Despite those comments, investors who lost money argued that his involvement encouraged them to trust the platform. The case alleged he took part in promoting “unregistered securities,” which are not allowed to be advertised to the public in the United States without proper disclosures.
FTX was once valued in the tens of billions and ranked among the world’s largest crypto exchanges. But by late 2022, the company collapsed suddenly amid accusations of fraud. Its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Customers lost billions, and confidence in the broader crypto sector took a hit.
The $1.8 million settlement covers both legal expenses and compensation for users who interacted with FTX between May 2019 and the end of 2022. O’Neal will not be allowed to pursue reimbursement from FTX’s bankruptcy estate but will also face no additional legal claims related to the platform.
O’Neal is not the only high-profile figure who appeared in FTX’s promotional campaigns. Former NFL players Tom Brady and Trevor Lawrence, tennis player Naomi Osaka, and investor Kevin O’Leary were also named in lawsuits. Some, including Lawrence and several well-known YouTubers, have already settled.
The wave of lawsuits shows how celebrities who lend their image to crypto firms can face legal consequences—especially when those firms collapse and investors lose large sums.
In November 2024, O’Neal agreed to an $11 million settlement with holders of Astrals NFTs. The case involved allegations that he promoted unregistered securities linked to the Astrals NFT project, which runs on the Solana blockchain. The settlement was intended to resolve those accusations.