Shaquille O’Neal to Pay $11M in Final Settlement Over Astrals NFT Lawsuit
Former NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has agreed to pay $11 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit tied to his involvement in the Solana-based Astrals NFT project. A Florida federal judge, Federico Moreno, approved the final settlement on April 1, with the order made public on April 8. The settlement establishes an $11 million fund for eligible investors who purchased Astrals NFTs between May 2022 and January 15, 2024, or acquired the project’s GLXY tokens during that period.
Judge Approves $2.9M in Legal Fees in Shaquille O’Neal’s Astrals NFT Settlement
The court also approved $2.9 million in attorney fees and associated costs. Judge Moreno ruled the fee request was “fair and reasonable,” with no objections from the plaintiffs. The lawsuit, initially filed in May 2023, alleged that Shaquille O’Neal had promoted and helped launch the Astrals NFT collection, which plaintiffs argued amounted to the unregistered sale of securities. They claimed to have suffered financial losses due to O’Neal’s promotional efforts. In August, Judge Moreno acknowledged that the plaintiffs had plausibly alleged the former athlete acted as a seller under securities law. O’Neal reached a settlement agreement in November. Astrals NFTs launched in April 2022 and featured 10,000 unique 3D avatars created by artist Damien Guimoneau. The project pitched itself as an immersive metaverse experience where users could interact with each other and with O’Neal himself. However, the collection has shown no signs of activity in the past two years, according to NFT marketplace OpenSea.
Last year, a U.S. federal court partially dismissed a class-action lawsuit against O’Neal related to his involvement in the NFT project Astrals.
The lawsuit accused O’Neal of being the public face of Astrals, urging investors to join the project with phrases like, “Hop on the wave before it’s too late.” Despite the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX in November 2022, O’Neal remained publicly supportive of Astrals. In its ruling, the court dismissed the claim that O’Neal was a “control person” within the project, meaning someone who held actual power or control over its operations.
NFT Market Activity Remains Subdued
NFT market activity remains subdued in 2025. As of April 7, total NFT sales volume stood at just $27 million for the week, a steep decline from the $2 billion-plus weekly volumes recorded during the 2021 market peak, according to CryptoSlam. As reported, NFT trading volume plummeted by more than 60% in February, continuing a downward trend that began in early 2024. It is worth noting that there has been a trend of companies discontinuing their involvement in the NFT space. Back in March, Starbucks, the renowned multinational coffee chain, made the decision to terminate its NFT rewards program. In January, gaming retailer GameStop announced the closure of its NFT marketplace after scaling back its crypto services over the past two years. Likewise, X, under the ownership of Elon Musk, discontinued a feature that allowed premium users to use NFT images as their profile pictures.