Shaquille O’Neal is scheduled to have a process server removed from the Kaseya Center Tuesday night after they finally tracked it down. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
After trying to hunt him down for months, a process server officially served NBA Hall of Famer and TNT analyst Shaquille O’Neal Tuesday night.
O’Neal, who appears to have been “dodging” attorneys representing FTX investors for months, was finally served with a complaint on Tuesday that is part of a planned class-action lawsuit against failed cryptocurrency firm Adam Moskowitz, an attorney representing FTX investors, is. confirmed to People.
O’Neal was actually served with the complaint while working for TNT during Tuesday night’s Eastern Conference Finals game between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics at the Kaseya Center — formerly known as the FTX Arena.
“The process server filmed the event to ensure there was no ambiguity, as Shaq argued in the FTX case,” Moskowitz told People, adding that O’Neal “kicked the process server out of the arena.”
“These allegations are very serious now, so it’s good that we can start with the rationale, rather than the silly service perk that Mr. O’Neal unfortunately created,” Moskowitz said.
In theory, serving him properly shouldn’t have been difficult—something that’s generally required to initiate litigation.
O’Neal is everywhere. He has countless TV commercials and commercials running at any given time, and during the NBA season he is on TNT at least once a week, if not more often. O’Neal attended every game during the Eastern Conference Finals and also worked with Inside the NBA.
However, O’Neal has reportedly been “dodging” process servers for months. According to The Wall Street Journal, officials have repeatedly attempted and failed to serve O’Neal at both his home, at the TNT studios, and at his ex-wife’s home.
At one point, they said they “threw the legal papers on his speedy SUV” to serve O’Neal, but it fell through. O’Neal has denied those claims, saying he simply “drived past the strangers lurking outside his home” when it came to the groundbreaking SUV allegations.
O’Neal is one of several celebrities and athletes involved in the proposed class action lawsuit filed by FTX investors following the company’s collapse. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in January and charged with wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering and more. O’Neal has appeared in commercials alongside Tom Brady and his ex-wife Gisele Bundchen, comedian Larry David, tennis star Naomi Osaka and Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry.
While O’Neal managed to avoid the papers in the lawsuit against him for a long time, it wouldn’t stay that way forever. Regardless of whether O’Neal is really at fault or not, the lawsuit can now officially proceed.