A federal judge has agreed to allow the legal dispute to come to an end
Shaquille O’Neal has reached a settlement worth $11 million in a class-action lawsuit involving the Astrals NFT project, which he helped launch and promote. A federal judge in Florida signed off on the agreement, bringing an end to the legal dispute that accused O’Neal of participating in the unregistered sale of digital assets.
The lawsuit, originally filed in May 2023, was brought by a group of buyers who claimed they lost money after investing in the Solana-based Astrals NFTs and the associated GLXY tokens. Led by Daniel Harper, the plaintiffs argued that O’Neal played a key role in promoting the project and should be held accountable for their financial losses.
The settlement provides compensation for those who bought Astrals NFTs between May 2022 and January 15 of this year, or who purchased GLXY tokens up until mid-January.
Out of the $11 million settlement, $2.9 million has been approved to cover legal fees. The rest will go toward compensating eligible buyers. According to court documents, the plaintiffs accepted the terms and considered the fees to be fair.
O’Neal had been connected to the project since its launch in 2022. Astrals featured a collection of 10,000 3D NFT characters created by artist Damien Guimoneau and was marketed as a digital universe where users could interact with each other and the former NBA star. However, the collection has seen no trading activity for nearly two years, based on data from NFT marketplace OpenSea.
The case wraps up at a time when the broader NFT market continues to struggle. Weekly sales have dropped sharply, with recent figures showing just $27 million in activity compared to over $2 billion during the height of the boom in 2021, according to data from CryptoSlam.
