FTX victims’ lawyers struggle to serve Shaq
The law firm representing victims affected by the FTX collapse have publicly appealed to NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal to show “courtesy and honor” by actually accepting their legal complaint after several unsuccessful attempts.
In an April 14 tweet, The Moskowitz Law Firm revealed its team have been standing outside O’Neal’s TNT studios in Atlanta “all week” to serve him on behalf of FTX investors – in relation to his previous endorsement of the now-defunct crypto exchange.
However, it was noted that O’Neal’s security guards have not let them in.
It was emphasized that O’Neal is the only one among the “FTX celebrities” – referring to the class action lawsuit filed against several celebrities for endorsing FTX including Tom Brady, Steph Curry and Larry David – who has not yet been served.
The law firm stated that O’Neal should show the courtesy and honor by allowing their process servers to deliver the legal complaint on his behalf on April 15, so he can defend his “actions in this matter.”
@BleacherReport Mr. O’Neal: We represent thousands of FTX victims who lost their savings in the massive FTX fraud. We have been standing outside your TNT studios in Atlanta all week, but your security guards will not let us in, to just hand deliver our legal complaint.
— The Moskowitz Law Firm (@moskowitzesq) April 14, 2023
This comes after an April 7 court filing stated that the legal team have made numerous attempts in various locations to serve O’Neal, but have been unsuccessful. The filing stated:
“Mr. O’Neal is the sole remaining defendant in this matter who has still not been served. Despite Plaintiffs’ dozens of attempts in multiple states and countries, to either effect service on him or have him (or a designated agent) accept service of process.”
According to the court filing, the legal courier in Texas received a threatening message after making the “eighth most recent attempt” to serve O’Neal at his Texas residence.
The message mentioned O’Neal’s wife and stated, “shaq lives in the Bahamas u stupid fuck give beth shaw my regards.”
The plaintiffs stated that it is “finally time” to start attempting to contact O’Neal via other means, such as “direct messages to his verified social media accounts,” according to the court filing.
Related: Celebs who got burned endorsing crypto and those that got away with it
This comes after it was reported on March 9 that U.S. District judge Kevin Moore is considering dismissing both O’Neal and tennis athlete Naomi Osaki from the lawsuit, after pointing out that it is unclear whether the two had been served.
A paperless order was issued by Moore, giving FTX customers until December to provide justification on why both stars should be included in the lawsuit.
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