By Alfredo Echenique
Nov 30, 2023, 10:42 AM EST
Cristiano Ronaldo is not only one of the best players in the history of football on the field. Him but also outside of it, since he is one of the athletes who generates the most money off the playing field, with a net worth of $700 million dollars and being the athlete who currently generates the most money.
These income are thanks to sponsorships and advertising campaigns that the player represents. But it seems that one of these campaigns in which the footballer was involved could cause big problems for the Al Nassr star.
In November 2022 Cristiano in partnership with Binance announced their first collection of non-fungible tokens (NFT) called “CR7”. which according to the footballer would reward the fans “for all the years of support.”
However, it seems that not everything went as the Portuguese expected. Well, the investors of this crypto-asset had million-dollar losses. And now the footballer could face a large lawsuit for fraud, since he was involved and was the face of the tokens.
The class action lawsuit was filed on November 27 in a Florida court in the United States. The complaint alleges that users who signed up for Ronaldo NFTs were more likely to use Binance for other purposes, such as investing in what they claim are unregistered securities, including BNB.
On the other hand, they also claim that “Cristiano promoted, assisted and/or actively participated in the offer and sale of unregistered securities in coordination with Binance.” Therefore, the former Real Madrid footballer will also be investigated in this class action lawsuit.
They further allege that Ronaldo knew or should have known that “Binance was selling unregistered crypto securities,” as he has “investment experience and extensive resources to obtain external advisors.”
Binance in trouble
On the other hand, the Binance company has its own problems. Well, its founder, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, pleaded guilty and must pay a $4.3 billion settlement to the US government for violating anti-money laundering laws and running an unregistered money transfer business.
Zhao has resigned as CEO of Binance and now faces up to 18 months in prison. Binance has agreed to have the US Department of Justice and the US Treasury Department monitor compliance for five years.
For now the lawsuit has just begun and the investigation process will begin in which Cristiano Ronaldo would also be involved. If the soccer player is found guilty, the Portuguese will have to pay $1,000 million dollars in compensation.
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