Shaquille O’Neal Settles $11 Million Lawsuit Over Astrals NFT Promotion

Highlights:

• Shaquille O’Neal agreed to pay $11 million to settle a lawsuit linked to the Astrals NFT project.
• The settlement covers investors who bought Astrals NFTs or GLXY tokens between May 2022 and January 2024.
• Astral’s activity has dropped, and the NFT market remains weak with low sales and fading company support.

Former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal has agreed to pay $11 million to settle a class-action lawsuit. The case is connected to his role in promoting the Astrals NFT project. A Florida federal judge, Federico Moreno, approved the final deal on April 1. However, the court made the order public on April 8. The settlement includes a fund for eligible investors who either purchased Astrals NFTs or acquired the project’s GLXY tokens between May 2022 and January 15, 2024.

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Shaquille O’Neal Finalizes $11M Settlement Over Astrals NFT Lawsuit as Market Slump Continues#CryptoNews #memecoin #NFT #NBA https://t.co/8UXLKZpGU6 pic.twitter.com/G21PnzC4BX

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Along with the main fund, the court approved $2.9 million in attorney fees and associated legal costs. The judge described the request as fair and reasonable, especially since no objections were raised by the plaintiffs.

The case started in May 2023. It concerned allegations that O’Neal promoted the project in a way that caused financial injury to its investors. The plaintiffs said the star’s public engagement with the project led them to believe they should purchase digital assets. These assets later basically lost their value.

Since then, there had been months of back-and-forth in court, but O’Neal agreed to the settlement in November. Earlier, the court had said the plaintiffs had pled a plausible case that O’Neal was a seller under applicable legal standards. The settlement brings to an end a high-profile dispute that had dragged on for almost a year, in part because of O’Neal’s fame and his ties to virtual currencies.

Plaintiffs Claimed O’Neal Promoted Unregistered Securities

O’Neal was accused in the lawsuit of being heavily involved in promoting Astrals, a Solana-based NFT project that launched in April 2022. The collection of 10,000 avatars was created by artist Damien Guimoneau and designed to create a virtual world where users could interact with each other as well as with O’Neal. During the height of the NFT boom, the former athlete appeared active in the Astrals community, especially on Discord. He reportedly used popular internet memes to build excitement among holders.

One such moment included a post where O’Neal shared the widely known “I’m not f***ing leaving” meme, which was also referenced in the court documents. This interaction occurred while investor confidence was still high, and the market was still driven by a strong demand for NFTs.

However, when the market cooled down in late 2022 and early 2023, O’Neal’s involvement seemed to melt away from the NFTs. His early support prompted investors to purchase what they later came to regret.

The court dismissed a claim that O’Neal had control over the internal operations of the project. However, it accepted that his promotional effort could serve to qualify him as a seller. This acknowledgment allowed the case to move forward and eventually led to the settlement agreement.

NFT Market and Astrals Activity Decline

The Astrals project has shown no visible signs of activity in over two years, according to marketplace data from OpenSea. Sales volumes remain far below their peak levels as the broader NFT market continues to shrink. Total NFT sales for the week ending April 7 totalled just $27 million versus more than $2 billion per week in 2021.

Other companies have also stepped back from the NFT space. Starbucks ended its NFT rewards program in March, while GameStop closed its NFT marketplace earlier this year. Similarly, X removed the feature that allowed premium users to use NFT images as profile pictures. O’Neal is also involved in a separate case tied to his past promotional work for FTX, another high-profile collapse in the crypto world.

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