Dapper Labs, the company behind NBA Top Shot, has resolved three class actions for a combined total of roughly $16 million. Two are privacy cases brought under the Video Privacy Protection Act over tracking pixels on the NBA Top Shot website, and the third is a securities case over the sale of NBA Top Shot Moments. Payouts, deadlines, and eligibility differ sharply between them, so the settlement you may be entitled to depends on when you held an account, which platforms you used, and what you bought.
The $7.05 Million Fan v. NBA Properties Privacy Settlement
The largest payout came out of a federal case filed in the Northern District of California by Thomas Fan, Matthew Kimoto, and Clinton Brown against NBA Properties and Dapper Labs.1ClassAction.org. Fan v. NBA Properties Preliminary Approval Order The plaintiffs alleged that the NBA Top Shot site ran Meta’s tracking pixel, which captured what users watched and bought and sent that information to Facebook without consent, letting Meta match users to their profiles for targeted ads.2ClassAction.org. NBA Top Shot NFT Owners Video Viewing Data Secretly Shared With Meta, Class Action Claims The claim rested on the Video Privacy Protection Act, which bars video service providers from disclosing a customer’s personally identifiable information without written consent. Dapper Labs and the NBA did not admit wrongdoing.
To qualify, you had to be a U.S. resident who held both an active Facebook account and an NBA Top Shot account at any point between June 15, 2020, and January 30, 2025.3NBA Top Shot Video Privacy Class Action Settlement. Frequently Asked Questions The claim deadline was December 16, 2025. The court granted final approval on December 19, 2025, and payments went out on March 19, 2026. Class counsel Bursor & Fisher estimated individual payments of $36 to $122.4NBA Top Shot Video Privacy Class Action Settlement. Settlement Home Page As part of the deal, the defendants agreed to suspend the Meta pixel on the NBA Top Shot site unless the VPPA is amended or they otherwise come into compliance.
If you did not file a claim by the December 2025 deadline, this settlement is closed.
The $5 Million Ohebshalom v. Dapper Labs Privacy Settlement
A second privacy case, filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Nassau County, went further. It alleged that Dapper Labs shared user identity and video-title data with six pixel operators: Meta, Google, Microsoft Bing, Snapchat, X, and TikTok.5ClassAction.org. $5M Dapper Labs Settlement Ends Class Action Lawsuit Over Alleged Data Sharing Coverage is also broader on the user side.
The class includes anyone who held an account on any of five Dapper Labs platforms between June 15, 2020, and January 30, 2025: NBA Top Shot, NFL All Day, Disney Pinnacle, UFC Strike, or La Liga Golazos.6Dapper VPPA Class Action Settlement. Settlement Home Page The gross settlement fund is $5 million, with eligible claimants receiving up to $5 per person, paid through Zelle, Venmo, or PayPal. The court granted final approval on April 30, 2026. The settlement also requires Dapper Labs to suspend all six tracking pixels on any pages that would capture the title of a video a user purchased or viewed, until the VPPA is changed or the company achieves independent compliance.
Payments under this settlement are much smaller than under the Fan case, but eligibility is far wider: no Facebook account is required, and holders of any of the five Dapper platforms qualify.
The $4 Million Friel v. Dapper Labs Securities Settlement
The third settlement came out of a securities case filed in 2021 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.7Friel v. Dapper Labs Settlement. Settlement Home Page The plaintiffs argued that NBA Top Shot Moments were unregistered securities sold in violation of the Securities Act of 1933, because their value depended on Dapper Labs’ continued operation of the proprietary Flow blockchain and its promotion of the project.
In February 2023, Judge Victor Marrero denied Dapper Labs’ motion to dismiss, finding the plaintiffs had plausibly alleged Moments could be securities under the Supreme Court’s Howey test.8vLex. Friel v. Dapper Labs, Inc., 657 F.Supp.3d 422 He called the decision “narrow” and a “close call.” The case settled the next year for $4 million. Dapper Labs denied the allegations and described Moments as “essentially digital basketball cards.”9Securities Docket. Dapper Labs Agrees to $4M Settlement in Class Action Securities Suit
The class covers anyone who purchased or acquired NBA Top Shot Moments between June 15, 2020, and December 27, 2021. About 33 million Moments were purchased during that window, so the average estimated recovery was roughly 12 cents per Moment before attorney fees, or about 8 cents after deductions.7Friel v. Dapper Labs Settlement. Settlement Home Page Cash aside, the settlement required a set of business changes. Dapper Labs deposited its remaining ecosystem-reserve Flow tokens into the Flow Foundation’s wallet and gave up control over them. It confirmed that four third-party marketplaces were already open for displaying and selling Moments as of March 2022. It committed to processing customer withdrawals within 2 to 10 business days and raised withdrawal limits to $500,000. And all directors, officers, and employees with relevant functions must complete annual training on federal securities laws and ethical marketing.10Friel v. Dapper Labs Settlement. Stipulation of Settlement
Judge Marrero granted final approval on October 28, 2024, and dismissed the case with prejudice.11Justia. Friel v. Dapper Labs, Order and Final Judgment Under the agreement, the plaintiffs are barred from claiming in the future that Moments are securities.
Why Investors Sued: Withdrawal Freezes and a Price Collapse
The Friel case grew out of real losses. NBA Top Shot launched in 2020 and generated over $1 billion in all-time sales, mostly on the secondary market, with sales peaking at $432 million across February and March 2021.12The New York Times / The Athletic. NBA Top Shot, NFL All Day The average Moment sold for $181.81 in March 2021. By December 2022, monthly sales had fallen to roughly $2.2 million and the average price to $12.83.
The plaintiffs said Dapper Labs made things worse by preventing investors from withdrawing funds for months, which they claimed propped up prices during the boom.13Yahoo Finance. Dapper Labs Agrees to $4M Settlement In March 2021, the company said withdrawals would be enabled in six to eight weeks and that processing could still take 21 to 40 or more days after that.14FindLaw. Friel v. Dapper Labs, Inc. At the time of filing, Moments could not be traded on any outside NFT marketplace, which locked users into Dapper Labs’ own platform. A flood of new supply, released to reduce queue wait times, then triggered a sharp price decline.15NFT Now. What Happened to NBA Top Shot
What the SEC Did
The SEC’s Division of Enforcement opened a formal investigation into Dapper Labs and closed it on September 29, 2023, without recommending any enforcement action.16Yahoo Finance. SEC Investigated NBA Top Shot Developer Dapper Labs, Decided to Close Case A Dapper Labs spokesperson said the company was “never contacted by the SEC and as a result were unaware of this investigation.” The case closing report, signed by SEC crypto and cyber unit chief David Hirsch, gave no explanation for why the investigation was opened or dropped.17Herrick, Feinstein LLP. SEC Investigated NBA Top Shot Developer Dapper Labs, Decided to Close Case in September There is no separate SEC-run recovery program for NBA Top Shot buyers; the only avenue for compensation is the private Friel settlement described above.
Which Settlement Applies to You
Only the Ohebshalom settlement still has payments flowing after final approval in April 2026, and its eligibility runs across all five Dapper Labs platforms with the widest date range. The Fan settlement’s claim window closed in December 2025 and payments went out in March 2026. The Friel securities settlement paid out after October 2024 to buyers of Moments during the June 2020 to December 2021 window. If you held a Dapper Labs account during any of these periods, checking the settlement administrator pages linked above will tell you whether a claim or a payment is still available in your case.