Former Heat forward Udonis Haslem will pay $420,000 to escape an investor lawsuit over the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.
Haslem, who is now a studio analyst for Amazon Prime Video’s NBA coverage, agreed to settle in December, but the amount he would pay was not disclosed. The $420,000 financial figure was revealed in a May 22 filing that featured details about his and two other settlements with the plaintiffs; law firm Fenwick & West is paying $54 million to resolve claims against it, while accounting firm Prager Metis will pay $11.75 million. The amount Haslem will pay represents a fraction of the more than $71 million he earned in contracts during his 20-year NBA career.
Haslem was included as a defendant in the lawsuit over claims he knowingly promoted FTX and unregistered securities on social media, at public events, and in other promotional materials without disclosing he was being paid to do so. It was also alleged that he knew his endorsements—which included him saying he was “100% in” and touting the company as “safe”—would be widely disseminated, especially in Florida, according to an amended complaint filed in May.
FTX paid Haslem in equity, not cash. The complaint says his “promised compensation totaled over $1 million in value.” Before FTX collapsed, that equity position had ballooned to roughly $15 million in value, according to the complaint.
The filing, a motion for preliminary approval of the settlement, says the deal is “reasonable,” and that the “monetary relief afforded by Mr. Haslem also presents the best possible outcome” for class members. The settlement must still be granted final approval by the judge.
Representatives for Haslem and the FTX investors did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
While Haslem’s settlement is sizable, it is still roughly 77% less than the $1.8 million paid by his former Heat teammate, Shaquille O’Neal, to resolve claims against him in the same case. O’Neal agreed to pay that figure—which is over $1 million more than the roughly $750,000 he was paid to promote FTX—in July. Adam Moskowitz, an attorney for the FTX investors, told Front Office Sports then that O’Neal was smart to get out when he did, saying athletes who have not settled could be on the hook for billions of dollars in damages.
Haslem and O’Neal are just two of many sports figures named as defendants in the multidistrict proposed class action, which encompasses multiple lawsuits that were filed in various jurisdictions that were consolidated into one sprawling lawsuit in Florida federal court. Others, including Tom Brady, Steph Curry, and David Ortiz, remain in the suit. Representatives for those athletes did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Although the judge issued an order last May dismissing many of the claims against celebrity and athlete endorsers, there remain a few key claims that are still being argued, including one under Florida state law that prohibits the selling of unregistered securities.
The downfall of FTX was sudden and dramatic. In the fall of 2022, the cryptocurrency exchange collapsed following revelations that its founder and CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, had misused billions of dollars of customer funds. The scandal resulted in FTX filing for bankruptcy and Bankman-Fried being arrested and convicted on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy. In 2024, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
