Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo is facing a $1 billion class-action lawsuit in the U.S. that alleges he “promoted, assisted in, and/or actively participated in the offer and sale of unregistered securities in coordination with [the cryptocurrency exchange] Binance,” causing plaintiffs to suffer significant financial losses. Ronaldo partnered with Binance in November 2022 and released “CR7” non-fungible tokens, which he claimed were “going to change the NFT game and take football to the next level.” His most affordable NFT was initially priced at $77, but just one year later, it fell to about $1. According to the BBC, the court filing said that Ronaldo’s work with Binance led to a “500% increase in searches” for the cryptocurrency exchange and pushed customers to invest in the company’s Binance Coin. The plaintiffs argued Ronaldo was not transparent and pointed to the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission’s statement that celebrity promoters had to disclose how much they were getting paid for their endorsements. Changpeng Zhao stepped down as CEO and pleaded guilty last week to criminal charges related to Binance.
