Football star Cristiano Ronaldo (Cristiano Ronaldo) has been subjected to a class action lawsuit for promoting virtual currency, and is required to pay at least US$1 billion (about 7.1 billion yuan) in damages.
Ronaldo faces astronomical claims.
Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo (Cristiano Ronaldo) has reportedly been hit with a class action lawsuit for his alleged involvement in the promotion of cryptocurrency-related non-fungible tokens issued by Binance, currently troubled cryptocurrency exchange, and has been asked for at least $1 billion in damages.
According to the report, the lawsuit filed in the Southern District Court of Florida in the United States a few days ago said that Ronaldo's promotion for Binance was suspected of being "deceptive and illegal". The plaintiffs allege that Binance's partnership with high-profile figures such as Ronaldo has led them to make costly and unsafe investments.
"There is now evidence that Binance's fraudulent issuance and sale of unregistered** was related to the voluntary help and assistance of some of the world's wealthiest and most influential high-profile organizations and celebrities – such as defendant Ronaldo," the lawsuit reads. ”
According to reports, in November last year, ahead of the 2022 World Cup, Ronaldo partnered with Binance to launch his first "CR7" series of tokens. The tokens start at $77 to $10,000.
The Nov. 27 lawsuit alleges that Ronaldo's promotional efforts with Binance have been "very successful" — with searches using "Binance" as a keyword allegedly increased by 500% following the announcement of the soccer star's token collection. The lawsuit alleges that the series' high-grade tokens sold out in the first week of publication. The lawsuit also alleges that Ronaldo should disclose how much money Binance paid him. The U.S. Exchange Commission previously noted that federal law requires celebrities to publicly disclose the compensation they receive for promoting, including cryptoassets.
The lawsuit against Ronaldo is not the first time celebrities have been sued for promoting cryptocurrency. Last year, multiple Hollywood and sports stars, including Larry David and Tom Brady, were named as defendants in a class-action lawsuit against FTX. FTX was the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange before its collapse in November 2022.
Binance was fined more than 30 billion yuan.
This summer, U.S. regulators accused Binance of operating without a license and violating a series of U.S.** laws.
On November 21, local time, the United States confirmed that it had reached a settlement with Binance, for which Binance needs to pay $4.3 billion. At the same time, its founder, Changpeng Zhao, pleaded guilty to money laundering charges and stepped down as the company's chief executive.
The U.S. Department of Justice, the Treasury Department and the U.S. Commodity Exchange** all participated in the negotiation of the settlement, which amounted to $4.3 billion, or about 30.8 billion yuan. Yellen, the United States, said on November 21 that the company has long been involved in illegal activities such as money laundering and facilitating countries and organizations sanctioned by the United States. The U.S. attorney general said on the same day that this was one of the largest corporate fines in U.S. history.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty and no longer serves as the company's CEO. In addition, according to the settlement agreement, he will personally pay a fine of 50 million US dollars, about 3 yuan500 million yuan. Despite the settlement, Changpeng Zhao could still face up to 18 months in prison, and the court will announce the sentence at a later date.
Binance was founded in 2017 and has since grown rapidly to become the world's number one cryptocurrency trading platform. In 2018, the company was investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice, and its market share gradually declined. As of now, its market share is about 40%.
*: China Economic Net, Reference News WeChat, China ** News, CCTV Finance).
Editor: Liu Tianyuan.
Co-ordinator: Yan Haiyan, Hu Ying.
Editor: Tian Minjia.