A federal judge of Florida has approved a settlement of $ 11 million between Shaquille O’Neal and Astrals NFT buyers, who ends a Class-Action right case about an alleged promotion of unregistered effects.
According to a judicial order made public On 8 April, Judge Federico Moreno gave the green light to the deal, which sets up up to $ 11 million for eligible buyers and $ 2.9 million in lawyers.
The case, led by the plaintiff Daniel Harper, covered everyone who bought Astrals NFTS between May 2022 and January 15 or took the GLXY tokens of the project at the time.
The lawsuit, first submitted in May 2023O’Neal accused the use of his celebrity status to promote the Astrals NFT project, a solana-based collection of 10,000 digital collecting objects bound to a virtual world concept, where users can socialize and play with others, including the basketball star.
Per the complaint, during the level of the NFT tree, O’Neal was active in the Astrals Discord, even the posting of the notorious “I am not f *** ing Leaving” meme on rally holders, a moment that was also cited in judicial documents.
But if the market acidified in 2022 and 2023, the hype died and O’Neal would have distanced itself from the project, so that many investors were frustrated and held with sharply devalued assets.
The claimants claimed that they had suffered financial losses as a result of his involvement and public notes, which they argued, amounted to the sale of non -registered effects.
O’Neal reached a settlement agreement in November, after months of legal back and forth. The court acknowledged last year that the case had a feasible claim, which suggests that the NBA Hall of Famer was a direct seller of the tokens.
This is not the first time that Shaq has to do with heat in the crypto world. He is also part of a continuous lawsuit with regard to his promotional work for FTX, the now defeated crypto exchange.
At the time, lawyers were reportedly struggling to serve him for months, as a result of which he finally caught up with a Miami Heat Playoff match in May 2023, held in the former FTXarena.
