Football legend Christiano Ronaldo faces a class action suit for promoting Binance
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Legendary football player Christiano Ronaldo has recently been hit with a class action lawsuit of over $1 billion due to his promotion of an NFT collection with Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange that recently got slapped with a multi-billion dollar fine itself.
Ronaldo sued over encouraging investment in “unregistered securities”
Ronaldo teamed up with Binance last November over an NFT collection known to many crypto and football enthusiasts as CR7. The sports star promoted the collection at the time, telling potential investors that his partnership with Binance aims to change the NFT game and take football to the next level.
However, he is now facing a lawsuit that claims that Ronaldo’s promotion of the platform resulted in major losses for the plaintiffs. Claimants say that the promotion had led people to invest in “unregistered securities,” such as Binance’s native cryptocurrency, the BNB token.
The filing further says that Ronaldo promoted, assisted in, and/or actively participated in the offer and sale of unregistered securities in coordination with Binance. The claimants noted that Ronaldo either knew or should have known that Binance offers unregistered securities, as he has vast investment experiences, as well as enough resources to obtain third-party advisers who would be able to point that out to him in case he did not know about it himself.
The lawsuit also referred to the SEC’s guidance regarding celebrities disclosing payments for promoting cryptocurrencies.
The fact that Ronaldo recently hinted that he intends to continue collaborating with Binance did not help the matter. He shared this decision to hundreds of millions of fans on social media, noting that he is “cooking something up” with the controversial exchange.
Cooking something up with @binance https://t.co/FMAP5GAdxE
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) November 28, 2023
Of course, the accusations would only be valid if the coins and tokens accused of being securities were actually confirmed as such. However, this is up to the courts to decide, as the SEC’s claims about what makes up security were recently brought into question after the regulator lost several crypto-related court cases.
Ronaldo’s ties to Binance weighing him down
Ronaldo’s connection to Binance is also an issue, as the exchange recently received a $4.3 billion large fine in a settlement reached with the US Department of Justice after the latter conducted a lengthy investigation.
As part of the settlement, the exchange’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, had to step down and permanently distance himself from the platform, losing the ability to participate in its management.
Zhao pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering requirements, which eventually led to him having to leave his own exchange and pay a massive $50 million fine. Recent reports also say that he is facing up to 10 years in prison but is expected to get no more than 18 months.
