Attorneys representing NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal, whose endorsement was behind the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, have alleged that two process servers were unable to successfully deliver legal documents to their client, following multiple unsuccessful attempts.
The filing for United States District Court in the Southern District of Florida on May 8 states that two process servers attempted to serve NBA star Shaq but failed. As a result, the process servers threw papers for a legal complaint in front of Shaq’s moving car. However, he did not stop to pick them up, leaving them behind in the road.
The filing argued that the purported ‘service’ is not in compliance with Rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Georgia law, and therefore should be quashed and the claims against Mr. O’Neal should be dismissed.
NBA star Shaq had expressed his support for the crypto exchange FTX prior to the company’s bankruptcy filing in November 2022. Shaq had even gone as far as to appear in a commercial, claiming he was “all in” for the crypto exchange. However, when FTX filed for bankruptcy and following potential legal action, Shaq distanced himself from the company by saying that he was “just a paid spokesperson” for the firm.
The Moskowitz law firm took legal action in November on behalf of Edwin Garrison and other FTX investors, filing a class-action lawsuit against celebrities and sports figures who had promoted the exchange. In March, a similar lawsuit was filed by the same firm, this time targeting crypto influencers such as YouTuber ‘BitBoy Crypto’ Ben Armstrong. These influencers were accused of promoting FTX’s “crypto fraud” without disclosing they were receiving compensation for doing so.
On April 16, Moskowitz reported that the law firm had attempted to deliver legal documents to O’Neal several times without success. Eventually, the documents were served to the NBA star outside his house. There was no indication that the firm had made an attempt to deliver the documents to O’Neal in his car or by any other means.
Mr. O’Neal never emerged from his car as he drove past the strangers standing outside his house, according to a May 8 filing. One of the process servers threw the legal documents at the front of the car, which was travelling at a rapid speed. The documents were left on the public road after they fell onto the ground.
The filing states that the alleged way of serving legal documents was not compliant with Georgia law and was not enough.
Throwing papers at a moving car and leaving them unattended on a public highway ‘is not good tender as it provides no way of knowing whether the papers landed in physical proximity to’ Mr. O’Neal.
The court has granted Moskowitz permission to provide legal documents to other people involved in the lawsuit, such as crypto YouTuber Tom Nash, even via tweet if necessary.
