A legal confrontation looms for the National Basketball Association (NBA) as platform users allege that the league’s marketing agreements, specifically with the defunct Voyager Digital, have caused over $4.2 billion in losses. A class-action lawsuit targets the NBA for its role in these deals.
Accusations and Legal Challenges
A Miami district court received a 100-page lawsuit on February 6, 2024, which brings the NBA to task for a marketing arrangement between Voyager Digital and the Dallas Mavericks, and suggests the NBA was grossly negligent in its approval of this deal. The document scrutinizes the marketing endeavors between the businesses, and posits that the NBA should have supervised and regulated these pacts.
The claim advocates that the NBA is accountable for the ensuing damages as they actively promoted Voyager’s unregistered securities. Additionally, the plaintiffs believe that the NBA willingly accepted the risks associated with partnering with cryptocurrency exchanges during a period of financial strain caused by the pandemic, which saw game revenues and TV earnings suffer.
Background of Voyager’s Collapse
The lawsuit also revisits past disputes, highlighting a 2022 case against Mark Cuban, then owner of the Dallas Mavericks, who was accused of endorsing Voyager and making misleading claims about its stability, charges Cuban refuted. The downfall of Voyager, which led to a bankruptcy filing in July 2022 following the 3AC debacle, was part of a series of events that spurred a wave of litigation against various celebrities and sports figures with ties to the FTX exchange.
As the FTX saga unfolded, a host of prominent individuals, including those in the sports and entertainment sectors, faced legal action due to their promotional relationships with the failed exchange. This included the Mercedes F1 Team, Major League Baseball, NFL icon Tom Brady, NBA star Steph Curry, and others, showcasing the wide-reaching effects of the crypto exchange’s collapse.