Cristiano Ronaldo has had a class-action lawsuit filed against him after claimants state they suffered monetary losses due to the football star’s promotion of Binance NFTs.
The Al-Nassr and Portugal forward entered into a partnership with Binance to create and promote yearly NFT projects that fans could buy and engage with the aim to integrate Web3 into sports.
However, complaints were filed into a lawsuit to a district court in Florida claiming Ronaldo “promoted, assisted in, and/or actively participated in the offer and sale of unregistered securities in coordination with Binance”.
Due to the sheer enormity in his popularity and reach, the lawsuit also alleges that Ronaldo grew Binance searches by 500% and was “incredibly successful” in bringing consumers and signups to the crypto exchange.
Claimants believe that the pull from Ronaldo’s promotion of the NFTs was more likely to drive consumers to the rest of Binance’s crypto services, such as trading and staking.
This lawsuit against the global football icon largely stems from the recent regulatory troubles Binance has encountered in recent weeks.
Being the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance agreed a record $4.3bn settlement fee with the US Department of Justice and its Founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao, agreed to step down from his role.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has for the last year warned celebrities of promoting crypto and digital assets they deem to be unregistered securities, which breaks its regulations and guidelines.
Ronaldo was alleged of this same sentiment, as the lawsuit revealed that he should have known about “Binance selling unregistered crypto securities” whilst acknowledging Ronaldo’s past experience in the trading market.
The three claimants, Gordon Lewis, Michael Sizemore and Mikey Vongdara, are seeking damages and funds compensation.
