Ronaldo is one of the most recognizable and wealthiest athletes in the world. The crypto exchange agreed last week to pay a roughly $4 billion settlement and its founder Changpeng Zhao stepped down as CEO and pleaded guilty to a felony related to his failure to prevent money laundering on the platform. securities laws in a lawsuit from regulators. Over the summer, Binance was accused of operating as an unregistered securities exchange and violating a slew of U.S. NFTs enjoyed a brief boom, but have since largely collapsed in value as the crypto industry has been marred by scandals and market meltdowns. ![]() NFTs are ordinary digital images with an attached version number that have been added to a cryptocurrency blockchain, a process designed to make them "unique" collectibles. ![]() Securities and Exchange Commission previously noted that federal law requires celebrities to publicly disclose how much they're getting paid to promote securities, including crypto assets. The suit also alleges that Ronaldo should've disclosed how much Binance has paid him for the partnership. The collection's premium-level NFTs sold out within the first week, the suit claims. Monday's suit says that the promotional efforts of Ronaldo's Binance partnership were "incredibly successful" - alleging a 500% increase in online searches using the keyword "Binance" after the soccer star's NFTs was announced. The NFTs - which had starting prices ranging from the equivalent of about $77 to $10,000 - featured seven animated statues depicting Ronaldo from iconic moments in his life, from bicycle-kick goals to his childhood in Portugal. Ronaldo launched his inaugural NFT "CR7" collection with Binance in November of last year, ahead of the 2022 World Cup. The suit argued that the celebrities' status made them culpable for promoting FTX's failed business model. The stars had appeared in a Super Bowl ad and other promotions for FTX. Last year, NFL quarterback Tom Brady, supermodel Gisele Bundchen and comedian Larry David were among a star-studded list of people accused of defrauding investors who lost money in the cryptocurrency exchange's collapse. Ronaldo isn't the first celebrity to be sued over their involvement with the crypto world. Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, did not immediately return requests for statement from The Associated Press. Representatives for Ronaldo declined to comment Thursday. As a result of his endorsement, his fans came away with the impression that the investments were safe - such was the case with the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, who bought products sold on Binance after seeing Ronaldo's endorsements, it claims. ![]() Under the marketing partnership, Ronaldo encouraged millions of his fans and supporters to invest with Binance, even though many of them were unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies or the platform, the lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Southern District of Florida Monday, alleges that Ronaldo's promotion of Binance was "deceptive and unlawful." Binance's partnership with high-profile figures like Ronaldo, the plaintiffs claim, led them into costly and unsafe investments. Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo is facing a class-action lawsuit seeking at least $1 billion in damages for his role in promoting cryptocurrency-related "non-fungible tokens," or NFTs, issued by the beleaguered cryptocurrency exchange Binance to millions of his fans. Binance CEO pleads guilty to federal charges 07:35
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