Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has found himself in a tight spot and might need to settle in court for a massive amount over promoting Binance, which has earlier agreed to pay a massive $4.3 billion fine and to let go of its CEO Changpeng Zhao as part of a settlement with the United States regulators.
As it happens, Ronaldo might have to settle the case for $750,000 in order to avoid a public trial in the US connected to a multi-year partnership with the cryptocurrency exchange that launched his line of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), cryptocurrency lawyer Jemma Fleetwood said on November 30.
According to Fleetwood, the football field veteran “will likely be discussing with his legal advisers whether the claim has legal merit, what his defense will be, and whether he should make an offer to settle the case,” which might be difficult at an early stage due to the amount, so a public trial is possible, she said.
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Considering settlement
At the same time, the lawyer mentioned similar cases, such as against boxing legend Floyd Mayweather and music producer DJ Khaled over failing to divulge payments from promoting initial coin offerings (ICOs) and who settled those claims for around $750,000, which she thinks Ronaldo could do as well.
“Ronaldo may similarly attempt to settle the claims brought against him to avoid a public trial, the escalation of legal costs, and significant time spent on preparing court filings,” she explained.
As a reminder, the footballer is facing a $1 billion class action lawsuit in the US, alleging financial losses to Michael Sizemore, Mikey Vongdara, and Gordon Lewis over “promotion, assisting, and/or actively participating in the offer and sale of unregistered securities in coordination with” the crypto trading platform.
Indeed, the collaboration between Ronaldo and Binance started in 2022 with the launch of his collection of NFTs, the cheapest of which cost $77 at the time. The lawsuit asserts that the famous football player was or should have been aware that Binance selling alleged unregistered crypto securities.
