After tracking him down unsuccessfully for months, process servers in the FTX lawsuit finally caught up with Shaquille O’Neal at his Atlanta home and served him court papers. Or so they thought.
Shaq is now disputing the service, a new filing this week has revealed. Through his legal team, the NBA legend says that he was never served and that the process servers only threw the documents at his moving car. He argues that drive-by service doesn’t count, and the court should dismiss the lawsuit as the plaintiffs missed their deadline to serve him.
A month ago, Moskowitz, the law firm representing plaintiff Edwin Garrison in his lawsuit against digital asset exchange FTX and its promoters, claimed victory in his three-month hunt for Shaq. After tracking him for months across his homes in Florida, California, Nevada, and the Bahamas, his process servers finally pinned him down in Atlanta, Georgia.
Moskowitz claimed to have served Shaq as he exited his home and said it had all been caught on tape.
Shaq has a different account of the events. In a filing in Florida, his lawyers claim that the servers tossed papers at his moving Ford Expedition. Shaq argues that this service is inadequate, so charges against him should be dismissed.
“This purported ‘service’ is inadequate. It should be quashed, and the claims against Mr. O’Neal dismissed,” the filing says.
Shaq is twisting the truth; I will expose him: Lawyer
Shaq is one of several celebrities that Garrison, the former FTX user who filed the lawsuit, is accusing of promoting a Ponzi scheme in FTX. Shaq’s involvement with the exchange dates back to last June in his infamous “I’m all in. Are you?” ad. Other celebrities facing similar charges include tennis star Naomi Osaka, NFL legend Tom Brady, NBA star Steph Curry and comedian Larry David.
While all the other celebrities have been served without incident, Shaq just won’t cave in. He, however, dismissed allegations that he had been evading the servers.
The servers “have had months and multiple tries. Mr. O’Neal has not evaded service by failing to be at the residences where plaintiffs belatedly attempted service or by driving past strangers who approached his car,” his lawyers wrote.
Moskowitz, the class action lawyer representing Garrison, says Shaq is twisting the truth and is threatening to expose him by releasing a video of the day’s events.
“It is really disappointing and surreal. The video will show Mr. O’Neal finally being served, after many months of hiding, as he attempts to possibly injure the process server. We expected better from an officer of the law,” the lawyer told one outlet. Shaq is an honorary U.S. Deputy Marshall and an honorary deputy for the Broward County Sheriff’s Department in Florida.
Serving Shaq has proven to be a lengthy and even dangerous endeavor for the process servers. According to Moskowitz, Shaq almost ran one of them over in Atlanta as he tried to serve him. Months ago, another server quit after he received threatening messages in which an unknown number mentioned his wife’s name.
As Shaq evades the servers, the other celebrities have opted to fight the lawsuit through legal means. Last month, they filed a motion in which they called for dismissal, claiming they never directly pitched to users the FTX interest-earning accounts.
Under the class-action lawsuit’s theory, “actors in any brokerage ad would be liable for selling any security that an individual user later purchased using the brokerage’s services.”
“That’s nonsense,” they said.
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