O’Neal Faces Allegations Of Involvement In Scam Amidst Crypto Fraud Fallout
In NBA news today former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal has finally been served in a lawsuit related to his involvement in the highly publicized bankruptcy of cryptocurrency exchange/crypto hedge fund, FTX.
Mission Accomplished
Shaquille O’Neal is far removed from his salad days…okay, this man doesn’t even know what a salad looks like so let’s try this again. Shaquille is far removed from his heyday when he was a veritable force of nature in the paint and around the rim. The 7’1” Hall of Fame center was the proverbial immovable object and the irresistible force all rolled into one.
But elusive is one adjective never used to describe him until recently. Despite resembling a building with feet, the process servers working for attorney Adam Moskowitz have been unable to track him down long enough to stick a bunch of court papers, with his name on them, in his hand.
Karma Is a Bitch
According to NBA news and rumors Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, and Steph Curry are just a few of the celebrities who have been served in the case due to their roles in promoting the alleged crypto Ponzi scheme. But apparently, Shaq, also a former FTX spokesman, has more moves than Ex-Lax because no one could get close enough to serve him until now.
After months of trying, some enterprising process server bought a ticket to Game 4 between the Celtics and Heat at the Kaseya Center in Miami. It seems that after the game, the server was able to give Shaq the papers while he was on the Inside the NBA set. It was actually a 2-for-1 as Shaq also served in his Astrals NFT Project.
And in yet another example of “karma’s a bitch”, we should note that the arena in which Shaq served, the Kaseya Center, used to be called the FTX Arena! Yes, the very same FTX crypto exchange that has Shaq and several others in legal knots. Now I’ve got absolutely nothing against Shaq but the coincidence is nothing short of delicious.
After numerous attempts, Shaquille O’Neal finally got served in the FTX lawsuit during Game 4 of Heat-Celtics. pic.twitter.com/2W3qMFWaXg
— Episodes (@episodesent) May 24, 2023
“He was personally provided the papers, so he cannot raise his absurd delay tactics,” Moskowitz said. “We watched the prior Heat/Celtics game, so knew he would be in the outside broadcasting booth where fans were right next door.”
Shaq’s Legal Quagmire
As for the other set of docs that got splashed on Shaq, regarding the business in which he was even more closely associated, the Astrals NFT Project, Moskowitz said,
“The allegations in the new crypto complaint are very serious and detail how he, his son, and his business partner all founded this NFT Metaverse and he made promises every week that he would be extremely involved, so the value of the NFTs would grow greatly. Once the FTX fraud was revealed, he ran away and has not been heard from since.”
Shaquille O’Neal was served legal papers related to the FTX bankruptcy and his NFT project while covering the NBA playoffs in Miami pic.twitter.com/VBJuwBQlUa
— Vision4theBlind (@Vision4theBlind) May 25, 2023
I’m not quite sure why there’s a collective schadenfreude surrounding Shaq’s legal quagmire, after all, he seems like a good dude. Maybe it’s just a little refreshing watching all these high-profile athletes with tons of dough getting too close to the wrong fire but couldn’t help themselves because enough is never enough.
