Former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal has agreed to a $11 million settlement to resolve a class-action lawsuit linked to his role in the Solana-based Astrals NFT project. On April 1, a Florida federal judge, Federico Moreno, approved the settlement, which was publicly disclosed on April 8. The settlement funds will be available to investors who purchased Astrals NFTs or GLXY tokens from May 2022 to January 15, 2024. Additionally, the court approved $2.9 million in legal fees, calling them “fair and reasonable.”
The lawsuit, filed in May 2023, accused O’Neal of promoting and launching the Astrals NFT collection, which plaintiffs claimed amounted to unregistered securities sales. They alleged financial losses from his promotional efforts. By August, Judge Moreno found the claims plausible under securities law. O’Neal settled the case in November.
Astrals NFTs, launched in April 2022 with 10,000 unique avatars by artist Damien Guimoneau, have seen no activity on NFT marketplace OpenSea for the past two years. Despite the project’s initial promise as a metaverse experience, its reputation suffered after the FTX collapse in 2022, which significantly slowed token sales.
In a related development, the NFT market remains subdued in 2025, with weekly sales plummeting to $27 million from over $2 billion during the 2021 peak. Companies like Starbucks and GameStop have also exited the NFT space, reflecting a broader downturn in NFT activity.
