National Basketball Association

Shaq sues over allegedly sold emails

Published Nov. 3, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Shaquille O'Neal is suing a former information technology employee the former NBA great claims invaded his privacy by selling personal emails that damaged his reputation.

The lawsuit was filed against Shawn Darling in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. It seeks an injunction barring Darling from providing O'Neal's emails to anyone, unspecified damages and the return of all O'Neal's private electronic messages.

O'Neal paid Darling up to $150 an hour for IT work. The lawsuit claims that included creation of a personal Internet domain for O'Neal that Darling also secretly controlled. The lawsuit claims Darling sold emails to Internet sites and other individuals, who then made them publicly available.

An attorney for Darling did not immediately respond Thursday to an email seeking comment. Darling has previously sued O'Neal over alleged computer hacking.