Lawsuit Against Ronaldo for Promoting 'Binance'; Portuguese Star May Face $1 Billion Penalty

Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese football star and the world's highest-paid athlete, is facing a class-action lawsuit from a group of Binance customers, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. According to Forbes, the plaintiffs are suing Ronaldo for promoting Binance and are seeking $1 billion in damages. This lawsuit was filed in federal court in Miami, Florida, just a week after Binance admitted to violating banking secrecy laws and agreed to pay over $4 billion in fines to the U.S. Ronaldo began his collaboration with Binance in 2022, creating collections of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and promoting them on his social media accounts, which have nearly 890 million followers. The value of some of these tokens significantly decreased after a few months, causing substantial losses for buyers. The plaintiffs claim that Ronaldo participated in the promotion and sale of unregistered securities from Binance. They argue that the Portuguese star, given his investment experience and extensive resources to utilize external advisors, should have been aware of potential concerns regarding the sale of Binance's unregistered cryptocurrencies, the possibility of fraud, or the impact of his involvement in this matter. The lawsuit directly references Ronaldo's 'social media promotions, NFT collections, and other advertising activities' with Binance. According to Forbes, Ronaldo's collaboration with this cryptocurrency exchange appears to continue, as he posted on his 'X' social media account on Tuesday that he is 'preparing something for Binance.' Neither Ronaldo nor Binance responded to Forbes' request for comment on the lawsuit. Additionally, Binance recently accepted a settlement with the U.S. Attorney's Office for violating money laundering laws, unauthorized money transfers, and sanctions violations, agreeing to pay over $4 billion in fines and financial restitution. Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, resigned from his CEO position and will pay a $53 million fine. Evidence suggests that Binance's fraud progressed with the assistance and involvement of wealthy, powerful, and well-known individuals like Cristiano Ronaldo. According to the plaintiffs, Binance has been using celebrities like Ronaldo to attract public attention to buying and selling cryptocurrencies on this exchange as a safe and reliable place. Ronaldo is not the only high-profile figure recently facing legal issues for promoting cryptocurrency-related projects; Kim Kardashian, Tom Brady, Larry David, and Stephen Curry are among others.