The “non-fungible tokens,” or NFTs,” created by the troubled cryptocurrency exchange Binance, have landed Cristiano Ronaldo, a Portuguese soccer star, in a class-action lawsuit that is suing him for at least $1 billiоn in damages.

On Monday, the Ronaldo endorsement of Binance was allegedly “deceptive and unlаwful,” according to the federal lawsuit submitted in the Southern District of Florida.

The plaintiffs assert that they were misled into risky and expensive investments by Binance because of their association with famous people like Ronaldo.

“The evidence now shows that Binance’s fraud reached such heights through the offer and sale of unregistered securities, with the willing help and assistance of some of the wealthiest, powerful, recognized organizations and celebrities across the globe—just like Defendant Ronaldo,” reads the suit.

On Thursday, Ronaldo’s representatives chose not to comment. The top cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance, did not respond to AP’s demands for comment quickly.

Prior to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Ronaldo debuted his first collection of NFTs, “CR7,” in November of last year, in partnership with Binance.

The seven animated statues portrayed Ronaldo from significant moments in his life, from bicycle-kιck goals to his youth in Portugal. The NFTs, which started from around $77 to $10,000, were released at different intervals.

The lawsuit filed on Monday asserts that the advertising campaigns surrounding Ronaldo’s relationship with Binance were “incredibly successful,” claiming that there was a 500% surge in internet searches involving the term “Binance” following the announcement of the soccer star’s NFTs.

According to the lawsuit, the premium-level NFTs from the collection were sold out in the first week.

In the time after, Ronaldo kept promoting Binance on his own website and several social media sites.

X, the network that was once known as Twitter, was where Ronaldo most recently shared a video from Binance, where he remarked, “Cooking something up” on Tuesday.

To create NFTs, which are “unique” collectibles, regular digital photos with version numbers attached are added to a bitcoin blockchain.

As the cryptocurrency sector has been tarnished by scandals and market collapses, the value of NFTs, which had a short bubble, has essentially crashed.

Several US securities laws were allegedly violated by Binance during the summer as the exchange was sued for operating as an unregistered one.

Changpeng Zhao, founder of the cryptocurrency exchange, resigned as CEO and pleaded guilty to a felony charge stemming from the platform’s inability to prevent money laundering. Last week, the exchange agreed to pay a settlement of almost $4 billiоn.

A celebrity has been the target of legal action over cryptocurrency advertisements before, including Ronaldo’s case this week.

A class-action lawsuit was filed last year against FTX, the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange until its collapse in November 2022, and a number of celebrities and athletes, including Tom Brady and Larry David, were named as defendants.

Celebrities were held responsible for endorsing FTX’s doomed business strategy, according to the lawsuit.

One of the world’s wealthiest and most famous athletes is Ronaldo.

With experience playing for Real Madrid (Spain), Juventus (Italy), and Manchester United (England), he now captains the national squad of his native Portugal.

He is currently a member of the Al Nassr professional soccer team in Saudi Arabia.