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Cristiano Ronaldo targeted by US complaint over Binance partnership

The football star is the subject of a class action lawsuit on American soil, accused of disguised promotion of sales of illegal financial instruments.

Partnering with Binance for a series of NFTs in his image, Cristiano Ronaldo joins the long list of celebrities summoned to court for their association with a crypto trading platform. Indeed, the football star is the target of a class action brought by three users of the platform on November 27 before a Florida court for promoting and aiding and abetting an illegal sale of unregistered financial securities.

The prosecution believes that the partnership concluded with Cristiano Ronaldo for this collection of NFTs implies that the footballer directly promoted Binance's other offerings, in particular those concerning the platform's native token, BNB, and other derivative products, considered to be unregistered financial securities by the SEC (the American financial watchdog). By association, the footballer is accused of aiding and abetting.

A billion dollars in damages and interest claimed

The prosecution also justifies its complaint by the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo did not disclose any compensation related to this partnership, an obligation imposed by the SEC.  The case could cost Cristiano Ronaldo dearly, as the plaintiffs are seeking more than $1 billion in damages. He is not the only star targeted by such a complaint, as it recalls the cases of basketball players Stephen Curry, Shaquille O’Neal, American footballer Tom Brady, model Gisele Bündchen and actor Larry David, all partners of the defunct FTX exchange.

In addition, Binance has partnered with other celebrities: as we mentioned in our columns with Rachel Conlan, the platform's marketing director, the artist The Weeknd has also associated his image with the company. For the moment, he is not concerned by a legal complaint for this partnership.