Brown Rudnick is defending Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and the NBA team against a proposed class-action lawsuit for his promotion of the now-bankrupt crypto platform Voyager Digital.

The class action complaint, filed by former Voyager customers, asserts claims under various state securities laws and consumer fraud statutes. Cuban and the Mavericks have sought to have the suit dismissed on numerous grounds. Alternatively, Cuban and the Mavericks have argued that the suit should be moved from Florida to Texas, arguing that the investor plaintiffs have engaged in “transparent forum shopping and gamesmanship.” While the motions are pending before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, comprehensive discovery has commenced.

This class action and other similar lawsuits brought against celebrities that appeared in promotional materials for failed cryptocurrency platforms, including FTX, will likely serve as bellwether cases when it comes to the application of state and federal securities laws to celebrity spokespersons in the cryptocurrency space.

Partners Steve Best and Rachel Wolkinson lead the Brown Rudnick team, which also includes partners Sigmund Wissner‐Gross, Angela Papalaskaris, Stephen Cook, Ken Aulet, Dan Healy and Jessica Meyers; counsels Eileen Hren and Geoffrey Coll; and associates Daniel Kerns, Tiffany Lietz, Jonathan White and Trip Franzese.