Cristiano Ronaldo hit with $1bn class action over Binance partnership

Former Manchester United football player Cristiano Ronaldo has been hit with a class action in a court in the US over promoting unregistered securities by cryptocurrency company Binance.

The Portuguese football star has been named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed to the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The lawsuit is a class action, represented by Mikey Vongdara, who invested in Binance and is in the sum exceeding $1bn.

Binance is one of the world’s largest web-based crypto-products platforms, offering over 100 million customers the ability to buy, loan and trade digital assets, including cryptocurrency and tokens. It was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao.

Ronaldo entered into a multi-year partnership with Binance in 2022 that involved the launch of his first-ever non-fungible token (NFT) collection. He was also a paid spokesperson for Binance as part of Binance’s global advertising campaign.

According to court documents, Binance pleaded guilty on 21 November for wilfully violating federal money laundering laws violations and agreed to pay more than $4.3bn in penalties and forfeiture to settle the charges — one of the largest corporate penalties in US history.

Zhao also stepped down from the CEO role last week and admitted to making mistakes.

Binance also agreed to accept the appointment of a third-party monitor, overseen by Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, to ensure the company’s compliance with federal regulations.

Earlier this year, the five-time Balon d’Or winner signed as a player with Al Nassr in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and we have now seen many star players in Europe follow in his footsteps.