Former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski will pay $1.9 million to settle a lawsuit brought by a former customer of cryptocurrency finance company Voyager Digital.
The settlement is pending approval by the court overseeing the civil case, but the paper said the National Football League star, known as “Gronk,” is a member of National Basketball Association player Victor Oladipo and race car driver. He will be paid in a pool of $2.4 million, along with Landon Cassil. Court filing dated May 3.
Gronkowski became a “Brand Ambassador, Voyager Shareholder” and owner of Voyager's VGX token in September 2021, a company press release announced at the time.
Voyager filed for bankruptcy in 2022.
A group of Voyager investors sued Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and other Voyager promoters that year, and last year they were joined by Gronkowski and other promoters. Investors announced in February that they had reached an agreement with Gronkowski. In a filing last week, Voyager investors announced they were prepared to move forward with an “initial class settlement” with Mr. Gronkowski, Mr. Oladipo and Mr. Cassill.
“Plaintiffs have now settled with Voyager promoters Cassill, Gronkowski and Oladipo for millions of dollars in relief, leaving co-defendants Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks with the remaining “He is scheduled to stand trial as a defendant in November 2024,” the filing states.
Mr. Gronkowski will pay $1.9 million, Mr. Oladipo $500,000 and Mr. Cassill will pay $25,000 to settle the case, according to the attached documents. If the court approves the settlement, the claims against the three people will be dismissed.
Coincidentally, investors filed a settlement in court just two days before former NFL quarterback Tom Brady (a former teammate of Gronkowski's) took part in a comedy roast, in which several people comedian and other stars commented on Brady's previous support for cryptocurrencies, but did not mention FTX. Promoted by Brady, Sam Bankman Freed's defunct exchange.
Comedian Kevin Hart joked that the roast was held at the Kia Forum rather than Crypto.com Arena to avoid reminding people that Brady owes money, while fellow comedian Nikki Glaser took a sharper approach.
“Tom also lost $30 million in cryptocurrency. Tom, how did you fall for that? Because even Gronk was like, 'I know it's not real money.'” she said.
