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Former pro basketball player Shaquille O’Neal will need to defend some of the claims brought against him in the Astral non-fungible token (NFT) class-action lawsuit.
The lawsuit, which has been<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/shaquille-o-neal-hit-with-ftx-and-astral-nft-suits-during-nba-game" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null" text="null"> ongoing for over a year</a>, names O’Neal as a defendant. It alleges that the NFTs are unregistered securities that O’Neal once promoted online.&nbsp;
In an Aug. 16 <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67416324/91/harper-v-oneal/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null" text="null">order</a> on O’Neal’s motion to dismiss, Miami federal court judge Federico Moreno judged the plaintiffs properly alleged that O’Neal was a “seller” of the Astrals <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/what-are-nfts-and-why-are-they-revolutionizing-the-art-world" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null" text="null">NFT project</a>, meaning O’Neal will need to answer for that.
The judge, however, knocked back a claim that O’Neal was a person with control over the project.
The <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/shaquille-o-neal-hit-with-ftx-and-astral-nft-suits-during-nba-game" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null" text="null">May 2023 lawsuit</a> alleged that the NFTs are unregistered securities that O’Neal promoted online. Judge Moreno wrote that the lawsuit had “sufficiently alleged that Astrals and Galaxy tokens are ‘securities’ subject to federal securities laws.”
The lawsuit claimed O’Neal urged investors to “[h]op on the wave before its too late” and said the team would develop the project until it reached a floor price of 30 Solana (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/solana-price-index" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null" text="null">SOL</a>) — worth about $90 when the collection launched in March 2022, according to the order.
<figure><img alt="Shaquille O’Neal may still be in hot water over Astral NFTs, says judge" name="" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-08/Screenshot%202024-08-20%20at%2010.33.59%E2%80%AFAM">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 The suit alleged O’Neal hadn’t posted to the project’s Discord after he said he was “NOT F***ING LEAVING” after FTX collapsed. Source: CourtListener
 </figcaption>
</figure>
The suit alleged O’Neal later left the project, which caused the value of the Astrals NFTs and Galaxy token to plummet.
Related <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/memecoin-retail-mania-could-go-way-ico-nft" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null" text="null">Memecoin ‘retail mania’ could go the way of ICOs and NFTs, say execs</a>
Meanwhile, the basketball star’s lawyers had argued that the case should be dismissed, claiming that O’Neal is neither a “seller” nor a “control person” of the project and that the NFTs and the Galaxy token are not securities under <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-tech-kamala-harris-elections-regulation" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null" text="null">United States law</a>.
O’Neal has until Sept. 12 to respond to the claims in the suit. O’Neal’s counsel did not immediately respond to a request for comment. O’Neal could not be reached for comment.
The floor price of the Astrals collection currently sits at 0.106 SOL — worth about $15.50, <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://magiceden.io/marketplace/astrals" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null" text="null">according</a> to NFT marketplace Magic Eden.
Astrals is a Solana-based project featuring 10,000 NFTs, <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/half-10-most-valuable-companies-making-metaverse-hardware" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null" text="null">a metaverse</a> called Astralworld and a decentralized autonomous organization (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/what-is-a-dao" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null" text="null">DAO</a>) with a governance token called Galaxy.
<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/lot-going-on-with-nfts-rd-24-hours-of-art-nft-creator/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null" text="null">NFT Creator — ‘No matter how bad it gets, there’s a lot going on with NFTs’: 24 Hours of Art</a>

Shaquille O’Neal may still be in hot water over Astral NFTs, says judge

Cointelegraph

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