Topline
Soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo, the world’s highest paid athlete, is facing a class action lawsuit from Binance customers seeking $1 billion in damages for promoting the cryptocurrency exchange that agreed to pay $4 billion for violating the Bank Secrecy Act.
Cristiano Ronaldo is facing a class action lawsuit from investors for his promotions and NFT ... [+]
Key Facts
Ronaldo began partnering with Binance in 2022, creating NFT collections and posts on social media to his 849 million followers.
The plaintiffs allege the soccer star “participated in and aided” the sale of unregistered securities with Binance, which “given Mr. Ronaldo’s investment experience and vast resources to obtain outside advisors, he knew or should have known of potential concerns about Binance selling unregistered crypto securities and/or that he was aiding and abetting Binance’s fraud and/or conversion,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit directly cites Ronaldo’s “social media promotions, NFT collection, and other advertising activities” with Binance.
Ronaldo appears to still be working with the beleaguered crypto exchange, posting on Twitter that he was “cooking something up with @binance” on Tuesday night.
Both Ronaldo and Binance have not returned requests for comment on the lawsuit from Forbes.
Key Background
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, was forced to pay over $4 billion in penalties and restitution after settling with the federal government on November 21. According to prosecutors, “the message here should be clear: using new technology to break the law does not make you a disruptor, it makes you a criminal,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. The settlement also forced Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, also known as CZ, to step down from his role as CEO and pay a fine of $53 million. The lawsuit against Ronaldo, one of the company’s largest spokespeople, was filed less than a week after the settlement was announced. “Evidence now reveals that Binance’s fraud was only able to reach such heights through the offer and sale of unregistered securities, with the willing help and assistance of some of the wealthiest, powerful and recognized organizations and celebrities across the globe—just like Defendant Ronaldo,” the plaintiffs allege in a criminal complaint obtained by Forbes. “Binance’s partnership with celebrities like Ronaldo was clearly designed to use the positive reputation associated with specific celebrities to convince consumers that Binance was a safe place to buy and sell cryptocurrency.”
Tangent
Ronaldo is only the latest celebrity to face legal issues for promoting cryptocurrency projects. In October 2022, Kim Kardashian was fined $1.26 million by the SEC for making a paid Instagram post promoting EthereumMax, a token that has since been widely seen as a pump and dump scheme. In March 2023, several celebrity spokespeople including Tom Brady, Larry David, and Steph Curry were sued for promoting FTX, the exchange founded by convicted fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.
Big Number
$136 million. That was Ronaldo’s yearly earnings up to May 1, 2023, making him the world’s highest paid athlete.