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Cuban, Mavericks will not back down from crypto lawsuit after celebrities settle for $2.4 million
Former NFL star Rob Gronkowski, NBA player Victor Oladipo and NASCAR driver Landon Cassill have agreed to pay a total of $2.4 million as part of a lawsuit involving defunct cryptocurrency platform Voyager Digital for their promotion of the cryptocurrency lender.
The settlements leave the Dallas Mavericks and its minority owner AND Shark tank entrepreneur Marco Cubano as the last remaining defendants standing in the case. But unlike the athletic trio, Cuban may not seek to settle his side of the lawsuit.
Cuban declined to comment, but his lawyer, Stephen Best of Brown Rudnick LLP He said he and Cuban are waiting to see how the Court will rule on motions that could dismiss, transfer or limit damages to a smaller number.
“We are awaiting decisive rulings from the Court,” Best said in an email to The Dallas Morning News. “This week we will submit to the court an uncontested statement of position that no part of the agreements with others shall have any force or effect on the Dallas Mavericks or on Mark Cuban.”
According to Law360, Gronkowski is expected to pay $1.9 million. Oladipo, who retired from the NBA last year, will pay $500,000 and Cassill is on the hook for $25,000.
Cuban and the Mavericks announced a five-year partnership with Voyager in 2021, where fans could receive a $100 reward if they deposit $100 and trade a minimum of $10 by the end of the month. The deal attracted so many potential investors that Voyager implemented a waiting list.
However, the partnership fell apart almost immediately. Just a few weeks after his announcement, digital currencies peaked before crashing, with the capitalization of the global cryptocurrency market rising from $2.9 trillion to $1.2 trillion. Voyager then filed for bankruptcy in July 2022.
Two months later, a class action lawsuit was filed against Cuban and the Mavericks on behalf of the platform’s investors. The lawsuit alleged that Cuban had exploited his name and credibility to get investors to trust Voyager and that he had made “false and misleading promises.”
While Cuban has denied such allegations, the original 2022 complaint stated that Voyager’s collapse ultimately cost investors more than $3 million. The class action also went after athletes such as Gronkowski, Oladipo and Cassill as each of them helped promote the platform to their fans.
The Moskowitz law firm, one of the firms representing investors in the lawsuit, did not respond to an interview request The news.
Best, the Cuban lawyer, is a nationally recognized lawyer who has represented other big names like Elon Musk after U.S. securities regulators accused him of fraud in 2018.
Although Best declined to comment on whether he, Cuban and the Mavericks will go to court, he is prepared to defend his client regardless of how the court rules on his dispositive motion, he said.
“Because Voyager is bankrupt, plaintiffs are left scrambling to locate any responsible pockets, regardless of the facts and the law,” Best said. “Voyager has had more than 20 celebrities and institutions, including major universities, promoting Voyager at one time, but the only defendant plaintiffs are interested in is Mark Cuban. We are fully confident that this will resolve one way or another in Mr. Cuban’s favor.”
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