A class action lawsuit has been filed in a Florida district court concerning the famous footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. Investors claim that they suffered losses due to his active promotion of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
According to the lawsuit, Cristiano Ronaldo was involved in the active promotion and sale of unregistered securities on the Binance platform. In mid-2022, Binance partnered with Ronaldo to promote several collections of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and the plaintiffs allege that users attracted by these advertisements tended to use Binance for other purposes. This includes investing in unregistered securities, including BNB Coin, as well as participating in a pharming programme.
"Ronaldo's promotion helped Binance attract investment in unregistered securities, motivating millions of his fans and subscribers to invest in the Binance platform," the complaint states.
The plaintiffs allege that through his influence, Ronaldo played a significant role in increasing Binance's popularity. The footballer has around 850 million followers on social media and hence his NFTs were in huge demand and contributed to the popularity of the platform. The investors also claim that the number of searches for the word "Binance" increased by 500 per cent in just a week after Ronaldo's token sale began.
The plaintiffs believe Ronaldo had sufficient information that Binance was offering unregistered securities in the cryptocurrency market, for he had "enormous resources" to engage outside counsel.
The class action lawsuit also alleges that Ronaldo failed to comply with the SEC's recommendations for celebrities to disclose their remuneration for promoting cryptocurrencies. The plaintiffs are seeking damages and reimbursement of legal expenses.
This lawsuit was filed after legal troubles involving Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao. Zhao admitted that Binance violated anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). Richard Teng has now been named CEO of the exchange, and Binance must pay $4.3 billion to US regulators.
