Shaquille O’Neal was served a lawsuit by FTX crypto-exchange users at the Miami Heat game Tuesday night after their multiple previous attempts failed, according to the plaintiffs’ law firm.
Investors who bought crypto assets through FTX are accusing the former Los Angeles Lakers star, along with other celebrities like Tom Brady and Stephen Curry, of defrauding them by promoting the now-bankrupt crypto company.
O’Neal was at the Heat vs. Celtics playoff game Tuesday while broadcasting for TNT, according to the Moskowitz Law Firm, which represents FTX users. “The process server filmed the event to ensure there was no ambiguity like Shaq has been arguing in the FTX case,” the law firm said in a statement Wednesday.
O’Neal had the process server kicked out of the arena after he was served, the firm said.
A law firm representing O’Neal didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
“It seems absurd to have to go to such great lengths to serve Mr. O’Neal, who is deputy of the law,” plaintiffs’ attorney Adam Moskowitz said in the statement. “These claims now are very serious and thus it is good that we can start with the merits, instead of the silly service sideshow Mr. O’Neal unfortunately created.”
O’Neal has tried to have the suit against him dismissed because he said plaintiffs missed a deadline to serve him legal documents.
A process server in April threw documents at O’Neal’s car while he was driving from his Georgia home. O’Neal’s lawyers said that attempt didn’t count as service.
Earlier this year, FTX customers sought to serve O’Neal through Instagram and Twitter after he didn’t acknowledge receipt of the complaint after multiple months of service attempts.
The judge denied their request.
The case is Garrison v. Bankman Fried, Bankr. S.D. Fla., No. 1:22-cv-23753-KMM, 5/23/23.
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