Ronaldo Sued for Promotion of Binance and Registered Securities
- Professional football megastar Cristiano Ronaldo has been sued for promoting the services of Binance.
- The athlete and Binance announced their partnership in mid-2022 and released multiple NFT collections.
- The plaintiff claims that the athlete was a key part of the exchange’s plan to increase its user base.
- The athlete is accused of promoting the sale of unregistered securities that were listed on Binance.
Professional football megastar and millionaire Cristiano Ronaldo has been sued for promoting the services of the world’s largest crypto trading platform by market volume, Binance. The plaintiff claimed in the class-action lawsuit that they suffered significant losses on their investments on the exchange, which had struck a deal with the athlete a few months ago.
The lawsuit filed on November 27 in a Florida District Court claimed Ronaldo “promoted, assisted in, and/or actively participated in the offer and sale of unregistered securities in coordination with Binance.” It is clear that the United States is coming after the leading crypto exchange, its services, and its executives.
It is important to note that Binance and Ronaldo entered into a partnership in mid-2022 to promote the crypto exchange’s services. In partnership with Binance, the football megastar released at least three non-fungible token (NFT) collections, providing the holders with multiple exclusive perks.
The plaintiff claims that those who signed up with Binance to purchase Ronaldo’s NFT collections also used the digital asset trading platform to purchase other crypto coins like Binance BNB and crypto yield programs, which they consider unregistered securities.
“Ronaldo’s promotions solicited or assisted Binance in soliciting investments in unregistered securities by encouraging his millions of followers, fans, and supporters to invest with the Binance platform.”
Ronaldo confirmed the partnership via a post on social media platform X (previously known as Twitter). The plaintiff claims that the football megastar was a key part of the crypto exchange’s marketing strategy, considering he has over 850 million followers across social media.
The lawsuit alleges that the Ronaldo NFT collection was “incredibly successful” in promoting the services provided by the world’s largest crypto exchange since there was a 500% increase in searches for “Binance” the week following the initial sale.
As per the complaint filed on November 27, the plaintiff stated that Ronaldo knew or should have known “about Binance selling unregistered crypto securities” as he has “investment experience and vast resources to obtain outside advisers.”
According to a previous report by BitcoinWisdom, the users of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX filed a similar lawsuit against the Mercedes F1 team and Major League Baseball (MLB). The FTX users accused the two sports entities of promoting the crypto exchange’s fraudulent activities.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
