According to a complaint filed by investor Daniel Harper in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Shaquille O’Neal actively promoted NFT Astrals, which are unregistered securities.
Harper said he followed the famous basketball player’s advice and bought the Astrals tokens, which were represented as 3D avatars of the world-famous artist.
These collectible tokens were supposed to be used in the meta-universe. However, when their rate fell, the investor lost the invested money.
Harper seeks refunds, compensation for damages and implementation of consumer protections.
The complaint also states that the basketball legend promoted other cryptocurrency projects, including the FTX exchange, among his 30.4 million followers on Instagram and various social networks.
Note that O’Neal is among the list of celebrities appearing in a separate lawsuit over the collapse of FTX, which he was involved in promoting.
Earlier, attorney Adam Moskowitz, who represents the plaintiffs in both lawsuits, accused the basketball player of evading court proceedings.
In April, lawyers still managed to serve a subpoena on O’Neill.
Last year, the Texas Securities Exchange Board began investigating the legality of celebrities advertising the U.S. division of the FTX exchange and how accessible they were in telling users about the risks of using such platforms.