Shaq seems unsure what it means to be a corporate spokesperson as he distances himself from crypto

[ad_1]

Basketball legend-turned-businessman Shaquille ONeal is trying to distance himself from crypto after being a paid spokesperson for the failed FTX exchange and being targeted by a lawsuit over it.

A lot of people think I’m involved, but I was just a paid spokesperson for an ad, ONeal told CNBC Make it this week.

In this ad, ONeal said it has partnered with FTX to help make crypto accessible to everyone. It was an unexpected alliance given that a year earlier he had told CNBC that he was avoiding the crypto craze.

I don’t understand it, ONeal said at the time. So I’ll probably stay away until I fully understand what it is.

His reasoning? He was skeptical of all the stories of people making big bucks fast.

Every time someone tells me one of those great stories, I like it, he says. But in my experience, it’s too good to be true.

Last month, FTX customers withdrew holdings worth billions of dollars after the CEO of rival exchange Binance tweeted that Binance would sell its holding of FTX FTT tokens. Shortly after, FTX filed for bankruptcy and its CEO Sam Bankman-Fried resigned after reports that he mixed funds from FTX clients with another of his businesses.

This week, Bankman-Fried was arrested and charged with multiple counts of conspiracy and fraud. With its collapse, many FTX users were unable to withdraw their money from the platform and it is unclear if they will ever get that money back.

In his interview with CNBC this week, ONeal said his friendship with Golden State Warriors player Steph Curry is the reason he appeared in the FTX ad. A spokesperson for Curry declined CNBC’s request for comment.

Curry, along with several other celebrities like soccer star Tom Brady and his future ex-wife, model Gisele Bundchen, were named in the same lawsuit as ONeal on FTX.

The lawsuit, filed in Miami by Edwin Garrison last month, seeks class action status on his behalf and on behalf of FTX users against Bankman-Fried and FTX’s celebrity endorsers. The complaint describes FTX as a Ponzi scheme and claims its celebrity spokespersons endorsed unregistered securities.

The story continues

People know I’m very, very honest, O’Neal said. I have nothing to hide. If I was heavily involved, I would be front and center saying, Hey. But I was just a paid spokesperson.

In his FTX ad, he said that he is just a regular guy who checks his FTX account and he is totally okay with it. But when asked this week if he was bullish on crypto, he just said no. a lot he was paid to be the spokesperson for FTXs. But Kevin OLeary, a regular on ABC investor show Shark Tank who was also a celebrity spokesperson for FTX, said he was paid around $15 million. OLeary told CNBC he put nearly $10 million in crypto, received $1 million in FTX equity and $4 million in taxes and other fees, all lost when the company collapsed .

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

More Fortune: Rishi Sunaks, the former hedge fund boss, paid himself $1.9million a day this year Kanye West after calling the rappers’ swastika tweet an incitement to violence

[ad_2]