Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo has been slammed with a $1 billion class-action lawsuit for his alleged role promoting cryptocurrency-related non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The NFTs were issued by Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange.
The lawsuit accuses both Ronaldo and Binance of "deceptive statements" to promote the "CR7" NFT collection, which was launched in Nov. 2022.
"Evidence now reveals that Binance's fraud was only able to reach such heights through the offer and sale of unregistered securities, with the willing help and assistance of some of the wealthiest, most powerful and recognized organizations and celebrities across the globe just like the defendant, Ronaldo," according to the lawsuit obtained by The Associated Press.
The lawsuit also accused Ronaldo of failing to disclose how much Binance paid him for his partnership, as is required by law.
NFTs are digital forms of art that are traded on blockchain. They went viral for a while, racking up sky-high price tags, but are now considered 95% worthless, according to NFT Scan and CoinMarketCap data examined by Business Insider.
The CR7 collection featured images of various animated statues of Ronaldo. The NFTs had starting price tags ranging from $77 to $10,000, AP said.
Representatives for the soccer star have declined to comment.
This comes just after Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced he is stepping down from his role after pleading guilty to a felony charge for not stopping money laundering.
Binance founder guilty of felony for not stopping money laundering
Authorities charged Binance founder Changpeng Zhao with not doing enough to prevent money laundering on the cryptocurrency exchange.
