Shaquille O’Neal gets sued during NBA playoff broadcast.

Shaquille O’Neal Served with Papers for Major Lawsuits While Broadcasting NBA Playoff Game

It’s hard to imagine a man as big and famous as Shaquille O’Neal sneaking around, let alone doing so for three months. But that’s exactly what happened as the NBA legend was tracked down and served papers during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Boston Celtics and host Miami Heat.

The incident occurred as O’Neal was co-hosting “Inside the NBA,” the postgame studio show that goes on location during the conference finals. According to Adam Moskowitz, a lawyer representing FTX investors suing various celebrities, including O’Neal, the process server had to buy a ticket to the game before approaching O’Neal on the set from which he was commentating.

While it’s unknown whether the process server approached O’Neal while he was in the middle of speaking, Moskowitz claimed that the NBA legend ultimately had the process server thrown out of the arena, implying that it happened during TNT’s broadcast of the game.

For O’Neal, this appears to be the conclusion of a sordid three-month saga involving his association with the disgraced FTX cryptocurrency exchange company. Process servers had spent months trying to deliver the summons to him, going to O’Neal’s homes in Georgia and Texas as well as to the TNT studio in Atlanta. One wild incident in Georgia involved servers throwing court papers at O’Neal’s vehicle as he was driving away from his Georgia home.

Although the Heat-Celtics game was broadcast nationally, a search failed to turn up any video of O’Neal being served on the TNT set. In one last ironic twist, this entire spectacle of O’Neal being served in the midst of an NBA playoffs broadcast happened in the arena formerly known as FTX Arena.

The Fallout of the FTX Cryptocurrency Scandal

The FTX cryptocurrency scandal has engulfed numerous celebrities, including O’Neal. The scandal led to fraud and conspiracy charges against the company’s founder and CEO, disgraced Democratic mega-donor Sam Bankman-Fried.

O’Neal has been implicated in a separate cryptocurrency lawsuit, also being handled by the Moskowitz firm, over the Astrals Project, which sells nonfungible tokens.

His lawyers argued that court papers were not properly served to the retired NBA star. Unsurprisingly, O’Neal is looking to have the entire case dismissed, though that appears to be over after a judge ultimately denied the motions to dismiss.

O’Neal has been mum on the thorny legal matter, although he did appear to broach the topic when speaking with Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry on the TNT broadcast. Curry also has been implicated in the FTX scandal.

“You’re my favorite player,” he told Curry. “I just want to say congratulations my brother and thanks for getting me in trouble. Don’t say nothing.”

Conclusion

Despite the absurdity of the situation, O’Neal has been served with papers for major lawsuits while broadcasting an NBA playoff game. This is the second time the Moskowitz law firm has claimed to have served O’Neal. The first time was outside his house, where his home video cameras recorded the service.

It remains to be seen how this legal matter will play out, but for now, it seems that O’Neal will have to face the music and deal with the fallout of his association with the FTX cryptocurrency scandal.

Sources: The Wall Street Journal, The Western Journal