NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal and his legal team claimed that the FTX class-action lawsuit filed against him, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and other celebrity endorsers, is still not served. O’Neal and his legal team alleged that the way he was served with court papers was “inadequate,” and asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit against him.
Last month, Moskowitz law firm announced that it had served a lawsuit against the NBA superstar at his Atlanta home after three months of unsuccessful attempts since it claimed that the basketball legend has been “hiding and driving away from our process servers for the past three months.”
“We just served personally Shaquille O’Neal outside his house with a copy of our complaint at 4 pm,” Adam M. Moskowitz, the attorney leading the lawsuit, shared the details in an email on April 16.
“We took Judge Moore’s instructions very seriously and are glad to finally end this silly sideshow.”
Moskowitz also claimed that the service was recorded and made it abundantly clear to the NBA superstar’s camp not to destroy the security tapes.
“His home video cameras recorded our service and we have made it very clear, he is not to destroy and/or erase any of these security tapes, because they must be preserved for our lawsuit,” the leading attorney shared.
UPDATE: Plaintiffs in the billion $ FTX class action case just served @SHAQ outside his house. His home video cameras recorded our service and we made it very clear that he is not to destroy or erase any of these security tapes, because they must be preserved for our lawsuit.
— The Moskowitz Law Firm (@moskowitzesq) April 17, 2023
However, O’Neal’s legal team claimed that a legal document “tossed” at the front of the NBA superstar’s car while he was driving through the gates of his Atlanta home does not count as the proper way of serving a lawsuit, according to the Monday filing for the United States District Court in the Southern District of Florida.
Lawyers of the former Los Angeles Lakers player said that after two process servers “tossed” papers for a legal complaint in front of O’Neal’s moving car, he did not stop to pick them up but just left them on the road.
“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,” the court filing read.
Furthermore, the lawyers said that the process of serving the complaint is “inadequate under Rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Georgia law” and requested the court that the lawsuit “should be quashed, and the claims against Mr. O’Neal dismissed.”
“It is really disappointing and surreal. The video will show Mr. O’Neal finally being served, after many months of hiding,” Moskowitz said.
“His lawyers need to stop running and finally deal with the serious allegations,” the law firm added.
Adam Moskowitz… told Insider in a statement: “It is really disappointing and surreal. The video will show Mr. O’Neal finally being served, after many months of hiding… his lawyers need to stop running and finally deal with the serious allegations.” https://t.co/y5FvHvd9IK
— The Moskowitz Law Firm (@moskowitzesq) May 9, 2023
The lawsuit filed by the Moskowitz law firm on behalf of Edwin Garrison and other FTX investors in November accused O’Neal and other high-profile personalities in the sports and entertainment industry of promoting the collapsed crypto empire.
In his defense, O’Neal reportedly said that he was just a “paid spokesperson” for the Bankman-Fried-led firm.
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