Remember those splashy FTX ads during the crypto boom? The ones where Tom Brady tossed a football through a ‘future of finance’ hologram. And Shaq deadpanned about ‘not being an expert’ while pitching the platform? Yeah, those didn’t age well. When FTX-Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire imploded in 2022, it wasn’t just investors left holding the bag. The A-list endorsers, from Brady to Larry David, suddenly found themselves in legal crosshairs, accused of luring people into what turned out to be an $8 billion house of cards.

For a while, it seemed like every celebrity who’d ever fist-bumped SBF was scrambling for cover. But now, two years later, the fallout is playing out very differently for two of sports’ biggest names. One’s cutting checks to make things right. The other? Doubling down on crypto while lawyers keep circling. And the contrast says everything about how this drama’s unfolding. Turns out, Shaquille O’Neal‘s playing the ‘refund’ ball. The NBA legend just agreed to fork over $1.8 million to settle claims tied to his FTX promotions – essentially giving back every dime he pocketed from the doomed crypto exchange.

No courtroom drama, no drawn-out battle. Just a clean check and a quieter exit than most celebs caught in FTX’s wreckage. The deal, filed in Florida court, wraps up a class-action lawsuit accusing Shaq of hyping FTX as a sure thing at live events and on social media. While he’s not admitting fault (standard in these settlements), the payout speaks volumes. It covers everything from legal fees to investor repayments, with a no-take-backs clause preventing him from clawing cash back from FTX’s bankruptcy circus. “We’re pleased to have this behind us,” his lawyers said, in the universal language of let’s never talk about this again.

Funny twist? This all went down after lawyers spent months chasing the 7’1″ Hall of Famer to serve him papers. Even funnier? Shaq’s been telling anyone who’d listen since 2022 that crypto’s ‘too good to be true‘ – right after starring in those “trust us” FTX ads. Guess that $15 million TNT paycheck makes this refund easier to swallow.

On the other hand, Tom Brady is diving back into crypto headfirst. And this time, he’s bringing a Boston startup along for the ride.

Tom Brady’s unfinished crypto business

Tom Brady might be done with FTX, but he’s not done with crypto. Just weeks after scoring a partial legal win in the ongoing FTX lawsuit, where investors still want billions from celebrity endorsers, the seven-time Super Bowl champ is jumping back into the blockchain deep end. 

This time, though, he’s swapping shady exchanges for something more cerebral. Catena Labs, a Boston startup co-founded by Circle’s Sean Neville, which just pocketed $18 million in seed funding from heavyweights like Andreessen Horowitz and Coinbase Ventures. Their pitch? Building the world’s first AI-native bank, where algorithms – not humans – handle everything from identity checks to payments using stablecoins like USDC.

For Brady, it’s a calculated pivot. After getting burned by FTX and weathering the PR nightmare that followed, his playbook now seems to favor stealth-mode tech over splashy ads. Catena’s focus on ‘agentic commerce’. Basically, teaching AI to shop and pay autonomously is about as far from FTX’s meme-driven chaos as you can get. 

And with backers like Twitch’s co-founder and Stanford’s venture arm, the project’s pedigree might help Brady shake off the crypto curse. Still, it’s a risky bet. The same courts that let him off the hook for most FTX claims are still weighing his liability. And Catena’s AI-meets-crypto vision is so futuristic. Even Silicon Valley isn’t sure it’ll work. But if anyone knows about comebacks, it’s TB12.

So, while Shaq’s writing checks to make his FTX headache disappear, Brady’s doubling down – betting that AI-powered finance is crypto’s next act. One’s closing the book. And the other’s already drafting a new chapter.