NBA

FTX victims’ lawyers struggle to serve Shaquille O’Neal

The Moskowitz law firm has been standing outside NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal’s studio all week to “hand deliver” their legal complaint with no success, according to a recent statement.

The law firm representing victims affected by the FTX collapse has made a public plea to NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal, asking him to show “courtesy and honor” by actually acknowledging their legal complaint after several unsuccessful attempts.

In an April 14 tweet, The Moskowitz Law Firm revealed its team have been standing outside O’Neal’s TNT studios in Atlanta “all week” to serve him on behalf of FTX investors, in regard to his previous endorsement of the now-defunct crypto exchange.

However, it was noted that O’Neal’s security guards have not let them in.

It was emphasized that O’Neal is the only one among the “FTX celebrities” – referring to the class action lawsuit filed against several celebrities for endorsing FTX, including Tom Brady, Steph Curry and Larry David – who has not yet been served.

The law firm stated that O’Neal has been “running” from them “for 3 months” and should show the courtesy and honor by allowing their process servers to deliver the legal complaint on his behalf, so he can defend his “actions in this matter.”

This comes after an April 7 court filing stated that numerous attempts have been made in various locations to serve O’Neal, but all have been unsuccessful. The filing stated:

“Mr. O’Neal is the sole remaining defendant in this matter who has still not been served. Despite Plaintiffs’ dozens of attempts in multiple states and countries, to either effect service on him or have him (or a designated agent) accept service of process.”

According to the court filing, the legal courier in Texas received a threatening message after making the “eighth most recent attempt” to serve O’Neal at his Texas residence. 

The message mentioned the process server’s wife, Beth Shaw, stating, “shaq lives in the Bahamas u stupid fuck give beth shaw my regards.”

Source: Case No. 1:22-cv-23753-KMM : dgmagstatic.com

The plaintiffs stated that it is “finally time” to start attempting to contact O’Neal via other means, such as “direct messages to his verified social media accounts,” according to the court filing.

Related: Celebs who got burned endorsing crypto and those that got away with it

This comes after it was reported on March 9 that U.S. District judge Kevin Moore is considering dismissing both O’Neal and tennis athlete Naomi Osaki from the lawsuit, after pointing out that it is unclear whether the two had been served.

A paperless order was issued by Moore, giving FTX customers until December to provide justification on why both stars should be included in the lawsuit.

Magazine: Can you trust crypto exchanges after the collapse of FTX?

FTX victims’ lawyers struggle to serve Shaquille O’Neal

The Moskowitz law firm has been standing outside NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal’s studio all week to “hand deliver” the legal complaint with no success, according to a recent statement.

The law firm representing victims affected by the FTX collapse has made a public plea to NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal, asking him to show “courtesy and honor” by acknowledging its legal complaint after several unsuccessful attempts.

In an April 14 tweet, The Moskowitz Law Firm revealed its team has been standing outside TNT studios in Atlanta all week – where O’Neal is employed as a television host – to serve him on behalf of FTX investors regarding his previous endorsement of the now-defunct crypto exchange.

“Your security guards will not let us in, to just hand deliver our legal complaint,” it was added.

It was emphasized that O’Neal is the only one among the “FTX celebrities,” which referred to the class-action lawsuit filed against several celebrities for endorsing FTX, including Tom Brady, Steph Curry and Larry David, who has not yet been served.

The law firm stated that O’Neal has been “running” from them “for 3 months” and should show courtesy and honor by allowing its process servers to deliver the legal complaint on his behalf so that he can defend his “actions in this matter.“

This comes after an April 7 court filing stated that numerous attempts had been made in various locations to serve O’Neal, but all have been unsuccessful. The filing stated:

“Mr. O’Neal is the sole remaining defendant in this matter who has still not been served. Despite Plaintiffs’ dozens of attempts in multiple states and countries, to either effect service on him or have him (or a designated agent) accept service of process.”

According to the court filing, the process server in Texas, Mr Shaw, received a threatening message after making the “eighth most recent attempt” to serve O’Neal at his Texas residence. 

The message mentioned Shaw’s wife, Beth Shaw, stating, “shaq lives in the Bahamas u stupid fuck give beth shaw my regards.”

Text of a message received by a process server in Texas. Source: Case No. 1:22-cv-23753-KMM: dgmagstatic.com

It was further stated that the plaintiffs believe it is “finally time” to start attempting to contact O’Neal via other means, such as “direct messages to his verified social media accounts.“

Related: Celebs who got burned endorsing crypto and those that got away with it

This comes after it was reported on March 9 that United States District judge Kevin Moore is considering dismissing both O’Neal and tennis athlete Naomi Osaki from the lawsuit after pointing out that it is unclear whether the two had been served.

A paperless order was issued by Moore, giving FTX customers until December 2023 to provide justification on why both stars should be included in the lawsuit.

Magazine: Can you trust crypto exchanges after the collapse of FTX?

NFT Steez and Victor Solomon chat about building in Web3 and the metaverse

This week NFT Steez spoke to award-winning artist Victor Solomon about basketball, the metaverse, Web3 and his unique NFT collection.

On Dec. 2, NFT Steez hosts Alyssa Expósito and Ray Salmond chatted with Victor Solomon to discuss his journey into bridging his in-real-life artwork into NFTs and how he cultivates the community and culture that surrounds it. 

Solomon’s work centers around basketball, not just the object, but the sport itself. For Solomon, the inspiration for his work comes from his early childhood of wanting to play hockey, a sport that was not accessible for him, and his eventual discovery of basketball, which he discovered to be more accommodating.

Solomon said:

“Basketball was such an inspirational platform for me since there’s no barrier to entry.”

Solomon says that the open nature of basketball is an “incredible parallel for everything that’s happening in Web3,” and throughout the episode, he explains the symbiotic relationship he has experienced in building out VesselVerse, the basketball of the metaverse.

Bridging the gap between real life and digital spaces

When asked about the liberating elements of creating and iterating in Web3, Solomon drew attention to the “invigorating” nature of being able to create things that cannot exist in real life, like a “planet inside a hollow basketball,” but also the process of taking the physical elements into digital renderings and composites. 

For Solomon, building a collection and a community to rally around it was second nature. His extensive experience in the traditional art world gave him the same insight and structure on how he releases digital collectibles.

Drawing inspiration from other NFT projects like Nouns, Solomon’s digital collection, VesselVerse operates similarly to his real-life pieces, except one “vessel,” or basketball is auctioned off every hour.

Contrary to physical installations or show pieces in a gallery, Solomon noted that creating within Web3 offers participants and collectors a broader and larger say in the direction of the work rather than a one-off experience.

Related: Comic-Con guru explains why storytelling is the key component for successful NFT projects

Unlocking collaboration within a community

When it comes to Web3 and the metaverse, a core tenet in a successful project or ecosystem is the community surrounding it and building alongside it. Solomon described how “exciting it is to be able to work shoulder to shoulder alongside a growing community,” where diverse collectors enable an “open forum to constantly visit, discuss and consider the direction of the project.”

Rather than shying away from opening up considerations to the community, Solomon embraces the more decentralized aspects of building and unlocking community in Web3. Solomon said:

“What attracts me as a founder is unlocking that opportunity for everyone to be able to have a voice.”

For Solomon, the juxtaposition of Web2 and Web3 has highlighted what he considers a “massive unlock.” As he describes, the collaborative nature and “community spirit” has not been something he has been able to experience in his physical work and is “energizing.”

The biggest challenge Solomon currently faces is re-educating a segment of the ecosystem that may have had bad experiences in the crypto and NFT market. Nonetheless, Solomon suggests that the adversity is worth enduring since the promise of Web3 is much bigger than any particular negative experience.

To hear more from the conversation, tune in and listen to the full episode of NFT Steez and make sure to mark your calendar for the next episode on Dec. 16 at 12 pm ET.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Esports team TSM suspends $210M sponsorship deal with FTX

TSM confirmed that it remains “strong, profitable and stable” despite its decision to suspend the sponsorship with FTX.

Professional esports organization Team SoloMid (TSM), previously TSM FTX, has suspended its $210 million sponsorship deal with the now-bankrupt FTX crypto exchange “effective immediately” following the cryptocurrency trading platform’s shock collapse last week.

The United-States-based esports organization made the announcement in a Nov. 16 tweet to its 2.2 million followers, adding that the decision was made after “monitoring the evolving situation and discussing internally.”

The $210 million deal was put to paper in June 2021, which resulted in the renaming of TSM to TSM FTX. At the time of the deal, the esports organization said it would allocate its new resources to all corners of the globe by opening offices in Asia, Europe and South America, according to Esports insider.

TSM also purchased $1 million worth of FTX’s native token, FTX Token (FTT), which was distributed to players and employees. 

Following FTX’s collapse last week, TSM, in a Nov. 13 tweet, said the firm was discussing its legal counsel “to decide the best next steps to protect our team, staff, fans and players.”

In its most recent announcement, TSM said its partnership suspension with FTX means that FTX branding would be scraped off TSM’s official name, team and player social media profiles and jerseys, stating:

“This means that FTX branding will no longer appear on any of our org, team and player social media profiles, and will also be removed from our player jerseys.”

TSM also took the opportunity to confirm with its stakeholders that its balance sheet remains intact and would be so for the foreseeable future without FTX’s support:

“TSM is a strong, profitable and stable organization. We forecast profitability this year, next year and beyond. The current situation with FTX does not affect any part of TSM’s operating plan, which was set earlier this year.”

TSM is most well known for its participation in League of Legends, one of the largest multiplayer online battle arena video games that is played competitively. TSM also fields players in the online games Dota 2, Apex Legends and Valorant.

TSM isn’t the only company to have struck off a massive sponsorship agreement with FTX following its collapse.

The NBA’s Miami Heat took things one step further than TSM in announcing to terminate its business relationship with FTX in a Nov. 12 Twitter post:

The Miami Heat added that they’re looking to find a new naming rights partner for the arena, which was officially renamed to FTX Arena in March 2021 following a 19-year sponsorship agreement worth $135 million.

Related: FTX collapse: The crypto industry’s Lehman Brothers moment

The Mercedes Formula 1 team was another sports team to suspend its sponsorship with Sam Bankman-Fried’s fallen empire, which was announced shortly after FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 14.

Grand Prix 247 reported that in a recent video call, the CEO of Mercedes’ Formula 1 team, Toto Wolff, stated that while he still believes in the long-term prospects of blockchain and cryptocurrency, FTX’s collapse provided a textbook example of the many vulnerabilities still present in the industry:

“This situation is very unfortunate. We considered FTX because they were one of the most credible and solid, financially sound partners that were out there.”

“Out of nowhere we can see that a crypto company can basically be on its knees and gone one week. That shows how vulnerable the sector still is,” the executive added.

But not every sports organization with a business affiliation to FTX has pulled the pin yet.

The Major League Baseball (MLB) is currently in discussing with its legal counsel about what the best course of action is, according to SportTechie.