Football star Cristiano Ronaldo faces a class-action complaint in the US claiming $1 billion in damages over “deceptive and unlawful” promotion of cryptocurrency-related “non-fungible tokens” (NFTs) produced by Binance.
The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in the Southern District of Florida, alleges that Ronaldo’s promotion of Binance prompted investors to commit costly and risky investments, arguing that the case involves advertising unregistered securities.
Ronaldo’s collaboration with Binance, which started on November 2022, culminated in the release of his first NFT collection, “CR7,” which resulted in a 500% rise in online searches for “Binance” and the sale of premium-level NFTs in less than a week.
Premium-level NFTs are said to have sold out in the first week.
According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Ronaldo also didn’t disclose the financial conditions of his collaboration with Binance, which is a violation of federal law.
Representatives for the football star, who is presently playing for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, did not react to calls for comment, and Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, declined to respond immediately to queries for comment from media.
This case comes after Binance was accused of operating as an unregistered stock exchange and violating US securities laws, which resulted in a $4 billion settlement. Changpeng Zhao, the creator of Binance, resigned as CEO and pled guilty to a felony connected to money-laundering breaches on the platform.
Despite legal troubles, Ronaldo continues to promote Binance on his official platforms.