Former Manchester United and Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo is facing a lawsuit that could cost him around $1b (€917m) in the worst-case scenario, following accusations of wrongdoing regarding his promotion of cryptocurrency firm.
Ronaldo, now playing for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, released a line of Non-Fundgible Tokens (NFTs) last year in partnership with Binance. As per the BBC, a class action lawsuit in the USA is being brought against the Portuguese for his promotion of the virtual products.
The NFTs released from Ronaldo’s collection started at $77 (€71), but just a year later, are now priced at just $1 (€0.92), a loss of value equating to 98.7%. Meanwhile the claimants note that Ronaldo’s promotion of the products also led to a 500% increase in searches for their crypto exchange.
NFTs are classified as unregistered securities in the USA, and celebrities who promote these securities are required to disclose who is paying them for that promotion, and how much, something ‘CR7’ did not do.
The BBC went on to note that Ronaldo did not comment on the story, nor would Binance. Given it was something that thousands of celebrities were involved in, if Ronaldo was found liable, it could spark a chain of legal cases worth billions.
