Celebrities and organizations such as Cristiano Ronaldo, who endorses Binance, the F1 Mercedes team that advertises for FTX, and the Major League Baseball, are currently facing a collective lawsuit, seeking over 1 billion dollars in compensation.
By Zen, PANews
On November 28th, Beijing time, Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo led the Saudi team Al Nassr to a home victory against the Iranian team Persepolis. Shortly after the start of the match, Ronaldo fell in the opponent's penalty area, and the Chinese referee Ma Ning immediately blew the whistle and awarded a penalty. However, Ronaldo got up and walked to Ma Ning, indicating with a hand gesture that it should not have been a penalty. After a VAR review, Ma Ning ultimately overturned the penalty decision.
Ronaldo's refusal of the penalty received widespread praise, with numerous domestic and foreign media praising his fair play. However, shortly after this display of sportsmanship, Ronaldo was hit with a collective lawsuit for promoting the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. The news quickly spread, and various media outlets reported that the controversial "President Ronaldo" was suddenly in the spotlight.
On November 27th local time, Miami collective lawsuit expert Adam Moskowitz filed a collective lawsuit in the Southern District Federal Court of Florida, accusing several well-known organizations and individuals of promoting the bankrupt FTX and Binance, which was recently ordered to pay a $4.3 billion fine. The F1 team Mercedes AMG and the Major League Baseball (MLB) were accused of assisting FTX's fraudulent activities, while Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo was accused of promoting Binance. The plaintiffs' legal team is seeking billions of dollars in compensation from these accused celebrities and organizations.
The lawsuit claims that Ronaldo's promotion of Binance is "deceptive and illegal." The plaintiffs allege that Binance's collaboration with well-known figures like Ronaldo led them to make costly and unsafe investments. "The current evidence shows that Binance's fraud was able to reach such heights by offering and selling unregistered securities, with the assistance and help of some of the world's richest, most powerful, and most famous organizations and individuals, just like defendant Ronaldo," the lawsuit against Ronaldo stated. "Binance's collaboration with Ronaldo and other celebrities is clearly intended to use the positive reputation associated with specific celebrities to persuade consumers that Binance is a safe place to buy and sell cryptocurrencies."
The collaboration between Ronaldo and Binance began in June 2022, when they finalized a multi-year exclusive NFT partnership. Binance announced that they would "bring a Web3 experience to Ronaldo's fans through global promotional activities, leading them to explore the wonderful world of NFTs." To date, Ronaldo and Binance have jointly released three sets of NFT collections and are planning to collaborate again in the future. Recently, Ronaldo posted on social media that they are "brewing something."
As the athlete with the most social media followers in the sports industry, Ronaldo has extremely high commercial value, and his influence is top-notch. His Instagram account has already surpassed 600 million followers. His joining has significantly increased the attention and viewership of the previously unknown Saudi league, even rivaling the top five leagues and becoming one of the most watched leagues. Therefore, in the collaboration with Binance, Ronaldo undoubtedly brought in huge traffic and income. The lawsuit claims that after the announcement of this football star's NFT, online searches using the keyword "Binance" increased by 500%.
The NFT referred to in the lawsuit is the first set of NFT collections released through their collaboration, deliberately launched just before the Qatar World Cup. This series contains seven animated statues, divided into four rarity levels: Super Super Rare (SSR), Super Rare (SR), Rare (R), and Normal (N). Each NFT statue depicts iconic moments in Ronaldo's life, with prices ranging from $77 to $10,000. The higher the rarity, the more exclusive rights are obtained. For example, the most rare SSR collection provides the opportunity to virtually meet Ronaldo and receive autographed Binance shirts, with only 7 available, starting at 10,000 BUSD, 5 of which were sold within 24 hours at an average price of 22,800 BUSD.
To attract new users, Binance also introduced the CR7 Mystery Box, providing free NFTs of Ronaldo to new users registered during the event. In the subsequent two collaborations, Binance repeated the same strategy. The second NFT collection series "ForeverCR7: The GOAT" was released in July this year, and the former CEO of Binance, Zhao Changpeng, promoted that holding the most rare ForeverCR7: The GOAT would have the opportunity to meet and train with Ronaldo, with Binance covering the airfare and accommodation expenses.
Regarding the collaboration with Binance, Ronaldo once said, "I have closely collaborated with Binance to develop a series that provides me with a special way to not only connect with my fans but also to involve them in a new and deeper way, while rewarding their support."
However, as the NFT craze subsided, phrases like "leading them to explore the wonderful world of NFTs" and "connecting with my fans" became particularly jarring as NFT prices plummeted or remained unsold. The cheapest N card in the first NFT series, with a cost of $77, recently sold for no more than $10.
Just like the aftermath of FTX's collapse, the celebrities and organizations that endorsed and promoted it continue to be held accountable. After Binance pleaded guilty to criminal charges and agreed to pay a total of $43 billion in fines, Ronaldo, who solicited business and users for Binance, also faced the lawsuit. The lawsuit also claims that Ronaldo should disclose how much money Binance paid him for the partnership. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission previously pointed out that federal law requires celebrities to publicly disclose the compensation they receive for promoting securities, including cryptocurrencies.
Nigel Green, CEO of the financial advisory and asset management company DevereGroup, stated that the core issue of this case is not just about a football player, and solely blaming Ronaldo would oversimplify a complex problem. "Instead, we should also focus on global regulatory agencies, which are progressing slowly in providing clear guidance in the face of the constantly changing financial landscape."
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