Portuguese Football star Cristiano Ronaldo has been hit with a class action lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed by the plaintiffs, who are claiming that his promotion of the crypto exchange Binance, which is now facing several investigations from the regulatory authorities, caused them to suffer huge losses.
In a recent filing, just a few days back, in Florida District Court, accusations were made against the former Real Madrid, Manchester United Star, that he played a vital role in promoting and facilitating the sale of unregistered securities. He did this by collaborating with crypto exchange Binance, which most recently has been surrounded by extremely negative sentiments after its CEO was found guilty of breaking different laws and fined heavily along with the Binance exchange.
The primary reason why people are suing Ronaldo is that because of his advertising campaign with Binance, many people purchased Ronaldo’s NFT from the platform and thought that it would be a good platform for their other crypto-related activities like trading in securities that turned out to be unregistered securities, for example, Binance’s BNB and its crypto yield program.
The complaint states that due to Ronaldo’s promotional efforts, many people, perhaps millions of his followers, were encouraged to invest in Binance. He should have known that he was promoting a firm that was not adhering to the guidelines of the regulatory authorities, especially since he has vast investment experience and resources at his disposal to vet the crypto exchange he was promoting.
He should also have known that the firm was selling unregistered securities. The lawsuit also references U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) guidance, asserting that Ronaldo failed to disclose payments received for endorsing cryptocurrencies, as advised by the SEC.
The class-action lawsuit has been filed by Michael Sizemore, Mikey Vongdara, and Gordon Lewis, who are seeking damages and funds for legal fees.
After agreeing to the charges laid against them and paying $4.3 billion in fines, the Binance exchange has committed to up to five years of compliance monitoring by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury.
Additionally, the SEC has filed a lawsuit against Binance, including allegations of selling unregistered securities, with reports suggesting an ongoing investigation into potential misappropriation of customer funds by Binance.
