“I was not a controlling person,” – this is how the legendary basketball player Shaquille O’Neal responded to the allegations in a class action lawsuit concerning the Astrals NFT project. However, the court recognized him as a “seller” who successfully solicited buyers, despite his claims that he did not hold an official position in the company.

O’Neal served as the face of the Astrals project, urging investors to “hop on the wave before it’s too late.” Even after the collapse of FTX in November 2022, he sent a GIF from the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” to the community on Discord with the caption “I’m not leaving.” The lawsuit alleges that after that, O’Neal left the project, and the value of the tokens plummeted.

The Southern District Court of Florida dismissed the allegation that O’Neal was a “controlling person,” but did not rule out the possibility that the sold tokens were unregistered “securities.”