Football star and legend Cristiano Ronaldo is reportedly being sued for promoting Binance and its line of crypto-focused products.
Superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is now dealing with a lawsuit that has been filed in a Florida District Court on November 27, 2023.
The suit alleges that the football star had been promoting Binance. The plaintiffs, Michael Sizemore, Mikey Vongdara, and Gordon Lewis, stated that they they incurred substantial losses due to Ronaldo’s alleged promotion of Binance and its products.
Cooking something up with @binance https://t.co/FMAP5GAdxE
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) November 28, 2023
The Binance platform has now been accused of not adhering to applicable anti-money laundering (AML) measures.
The leading crypto exchange had recently been ordered to pay US regulatory authorities a massive $4.3 billion in settlements.
Notably, Ronaldo had entered a major partnership with Binance last year. According to the deal, Ronaldo reportedly agreed to promote a set of his own NFTs (or non-fungible tokens).
In addition to this (as per the filing), consumers who had signed up for the NFT collection say they were a lot more likely or eager to use the cryptocurrency exchange for other reasons, like acquring (allegedly) unregistered securities. The unregistered securities reportedly include the BNB digital token as well as the exchange operator’s questionable yield programs.
According to the suit, Ronaldo reportedly knew or might have known about Binance allegedly “selling unregistered crypto securities.”
Additionally, the lawsuit states that the football star has “investment experience” as well as “vast resources to obtain outside advisers.“
Furthermore, the lawsuit has referenced the US SEC’s warning for celebrity promoters, as they pertain to disclosing payments obtained for promoting virtual currencies. The plaintiffs allege that Ronaldo has not disclosed compensation obtained directly from Binance for said promotion.
According to the suit, Ronaldo reportedly knew or may have been aware of “Binance selling unregistered crypto securities.”
Notably, celebrity endorsements of crypto-related products are nothing new. Unfortunately, major personalities such as NBA’s Shaquille O’Neal, Steph Curry, Kim Kardashian, and even boxing legend Floyd Mayweather have faced serious charges due to endorsing highly questionable and fraudulent crypto projects. Due to these issues, celebrities should not be taken seriously, regardless of how prominent or influential they might be. It also would not hurt to have stricter regulations around celebrity endorsements and promotions in order to protect vulnerable consumers.
