A group of individuals who bought into NFTs issued by the beleaguered platform Binance thanks in part to Cristiano Ronaldo’s endorsement are not happy, and the Associated Press reports they’ve come together to file a class-action lawsuit against Ronaldo over the matter. They’re seeking $1 billion in damages for what they say was Ronaldo’s “deceptive and unlawful” promotion of the Binance platform which they say led them to make unwise losing investments.
The suit goes on:
“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.”
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Ronaldo unveiled and promoted his own line of NFTs a little over a year ago, ranging in starting price from $77 to $10,000 in US dollars, with the highest-priced items selling out in about a week. In addition to alleging Ronaldo’s complicity in Binance’s violations of US security laws (in relation to which the company has already agreed to pay a settlement of $4 billion, plus founder Changpeng Zhao’s stepping down and pleading guilty to a felony charge for neglecting to prevent money laundering on the platform), they also say Ronaldo should have disclosed how much he was being paid by Binance in the endeavor. Such disclosures are themselves required by US law in cases of celebrity endorsements of financial products.
The NFT craze has died down significantly over the last year, with other celebrities like Tom Brady and Larry David facing a class-action lawsuit along with the collapsed FTX, but Ronaldo’s collaborations with Binance was still ongoing as recently as last month, with posts on his official Twitter account and is own official website reportedly promoting his work with the platform. He has not commented publicly on the lawsuit as of this writing.