Why Cristiano Ronaldo Is Being Sued For 1 Billion

FourFourTwo

Cristiano Ronaldo has been hit with a $1bn (£791m) class action lawsuit for his involvement in promoting NFT's.  Adam Monk takes a deeper look at why this seems to keep happening to not just footballers, but celebrities too.

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 Hello again, everyone.

00:06 Adam here from 442.

00:08 Now, who remembers NFTs?

00:10 What were that all about?

00:11 Yeah, those kind of like digital things

00:15 that everyone could kind of just screenshot.

00:17 You remember the, what was it called here?

00:18 Let me have a look.

00:19 The Ape Kids Club that John Terry used to flog

00:22 a couple of years ago that kind of went down the pan.

00:25 Well, they're back.

00:25 And this time it's to do with Cristiano Ronaldo.

00:29 Yeah, reason being Mr. Cristiano Ronaldo

00:32 could be facing up to a $1 billion lawsuit

00:34 after launching his own NFT collection in late 2023.

00:39 Like this ended two years ago, really, in my opinion.

00:42 But anyway, let's talk about it.

00:44 Now, first and foremost,

00:45 I find NFTs myself a little bit bizarre.

00:48 I was told an analogy this morning about them

00:51 that kind of makes sense, so I'll relay it to you.

00:53 But imagine you were in the Louvre in Paris, in France.

00:57 Obviously, you know where Paris is.

00:58 And you're looking at the Mona Lisa.

01:00 Obviously, that is available to public view

01:02 if you buy a ticket in there.

01:03 And it's in an art gallery.

01:05 It's on public display.

01:06 You can gather around and look at the Mona Lisa,

01:09 a famous piece of artwork.

01:10 However, an NFT would be if the Mona Lisa was there

01:14 and everyone can look at it,

01:15 but in the Louvre, there's a little cupboard around the back

01:18 that only I have access into.

01:20 And in that cupboard, there's a plaque that says,

01:22 "Adam Monk owns the Mona Lisa."

01:25 That's what an NFT basically is.

01:27 You kind of have some like little digital code

01:30 that says you own it, but everyone can just see the image.

01:34 And yeah, people are spending thousands of pounds

01:36 on this still.

01:38 So what has actually happened?

01:39 Well, in the run-up to last year's World Cup in Qatar,

01:42 Cristiano Ronaldo partnered with the company Binance,

01:46 you might be aware.

01:47 Now, Binance are the world's largest crypto exchange group,

01:50 and Cristiano Ronaldo has launched his own collection

01:52 of NFTs through them.

01:54 And these NFTs depict some iconic moments of his career.

01:58 So the over a kick against Juventus,

02:01 the goal for Manchester United in Porto

02:03 in the Champions League, you remember that one,

02:06 lifting Euro 2016 as well, that'll be another one.

02:09 And perhaps being compared to Lionel Messi as well,

02:13 although I'm not sure how you'd capture that

02:15 in NFT picture form,

02:17 but that should be an iconic moment for him too.

02:19 So some of the rarest collectibles

02:20 in Ronaldo's NFT collection

02:22 have sold for up to 10,000 pounds.

02:25 But aggrieved customers claim that his endorsement

02:30 has led them to make costly and unsafe investments.

02:35 And this lawsuit has come a week after Binance

02:38 reached a $4 billion settlement with US regulators,

02:41 sparking the shock resignation of Chang Peng Zhao

02:44 as the CEO.

02:46 So there's a lot going down over in the world at Binance.

02:49 Yes, the billionaire Chang Peng Zhao,

02:51 the CEO, the ex CEO of Binance is facing prison time.

02:54 He gets sentenced next year.

02:57 This is because he's pleaded guilty

02:58 to breaching anti-money laundering laws

03:02 at the top of the company.

03:03 It says here that according to the lawsuit,

03:05 Binance's NFT sales were driven

03:07 with the willing help and assistance

03:09 of some of the wealthiest, powerful,

03:11 and recognized organizations and celebrities

03:13 across the world, including Ronaldo himself.

03:17 And yeah, also says there,

03:18 he's pretty much been used as a poster boy for Binance.

03:21 I mean, who can blame them for that?

03:22 Because look, the search for Binance

03:24 has surged by 500% there after his collection was announced.

03:27 So he has got a bit of clout as Cristiano.

03:30 Court findings have apparently stated

03:32 that Ronaldo should have disclosed

03:34 how much he was being paid for the partnership with Binance,

03:36 which he hasn't actually announced to the courts.

03:39 And recently as well, only two days ago, in fact,

03:41 so Ronaldo so far has not commented on the situation,

03:44 but he has come out and said that he is cooking something up

03:48 with Binance.

03:48 So in the face of a $1 billion lawsuit,

03:51 I think there's more NFTs on the way

03:53 for you NFT lovers out there.

03:55 I'm gonna be honest with you,

03:56 reading this article that I've got in front of me here

03:59 is absolutely insane.

04:01 I'm just gonna have to show you this quote.

04:03 "Demands for NFTs have plunged in recent months

04:06 following a dizzying bubble that saw images

04:08 of cartoon rocks sell for millions of dollars,

04:11 with everyone from Donald Trump to Snoop Dogg

04:14 launching their own collections."

04:16 So to be fair, in many ways,

04:19 John Terry might have been somewhat of a trendsetter

04:21 because he was really the first public figure

04:22 that I can remember who started selling NFTs.

04:25 If you've got the ex-president of the United States

04:27 and Snoop Dogg himself coming out and selling them now,

04:30 then it must have had some impact in the celebrity world,

04:33 especially given that Snoop Dogg recently quit smoke,

04:36 if you remember that one.

04:37 So maybe he's quit smoke to go and start selling NFTs.

04:41 I don't know, but that is just mad to me

04:43 that two people like Trump and Snoop Dogg

04:45 are getting involved as well.

04:47 And just by doing further reading here,

04:48 it does seem to be that most of these NFT firms

04:51 and crypto firms, they just tend to keep facing lawsuits

04:55 and going bankrupt.

04:56 So you're seeing more A-listers now,

04:58 like Larry David, tennis star Naomi Osaka,

05:01 and Tom Brady as well, being sued for their role

05:04 in promoting the doomed crypto exchange FTX,

05:07 which went bust in November, 2022.

05:09 So they're all going bust.

05:10 They're not making much money,

05:12 but the items are being sold for a lot.

05:14 I just, I don't know.

05:16 I don't claim to be an expert on NFTs,

05:18 but what I do have a understanding of

05:20 is supply and demand.

05:21 You know, in simple terms,

05:24 you might need to go and buy some fruit.

05:26 Everyone needs to go and buy some fruit every now and then.

05:28 So there'll always be a demand for fruit.

05:31 Therefore, the supply of fruit will always be there.

05:33 And it's sort of like a healthy,

05:35 mutual financial relationship

05:36 where customers buy the fruit at higher costs

05:39 and it costs to grow.

05:41 And that's how money is made.

05:42 Whereas NFTs, it doesn't seem like the demand

05:45 is really there for a piece of pixel art

05:48 or a little graphic of Ronaldo suing.

05:51 And who can blame anyone?

05:53 That just seems like a mental, mental purchase to me.

05:57 So in the midst of me trying to understand NFTs

06:00 and why people are even buying them in the first place,

06:01 I thought we'd play a quick game of

06:04 cool things you can spend $10,000 on

06:07 instead of pixel art of Cristiano Ronaldo.

06:10 In at number one, you yourself could go on

06:13 one of Gary Neville's holidays.

06:15 - I call that a mini retirement.

06:17 - Oh, sorry, Gary.

06:18 Yep, a mini retirement.

06:20 You could go to Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, anywhere.

06:23 You name it.

06:23 Just go for a weekend, two or three days,

06:26 kick your feet back, buy some drinks,

06:27 have a bit of food, soak up the sun,

06:29 and that'll be less than 10 grand.

06:31 In at number two, you could get yourself a ticket

06:34 for this year's UEFA Champions League final

06:37 with prices starting at just 1,274 pounds.

06:41 So you'd have about eight grand spare as well

06:43 to spend on whatever you wanted

06:45 in that little trip to London.

06:46 And the benefit of this is that you can actually

06:48 go and watch footballers kicking a ball,

06:51 take your own pictures of said footballers kicking a ball,

06:54 and then they are yours,

06:55 unless you choose to post them online

06:56 in which people can screenshot them,

06:58 very much like they can with an NFT,

07:00 but you can really have your own collection

07:02 of perhaps a footballer's most iconic moment themselves

07:05 in a Champions League final,

07:07 and you get to be there.

07:08 So it's not just a picture of a monkey or Ronaldo.

07:11 So that's another sensible investment.

07:13 And in at number three,

07:14 you could pay to get me a green screen.

07:16 Yep, I'm working on it.

07:18 It's just 'cause of the shape of the ceiling,

07:20 which I'll fix.

07:21 Just kind of hard to like string it across here

07:24 and have it covering.

07:25 I'll figure it out.

07:26 I'll figure it out over the weekend.

07:28 Now, what are the parallels between this case

07:29 and the John Terry case?

07:30 Well, not many, because this is a partnership

07:32 for Cristiano Ronaldo with Binance,

07:35 whereas John Terry and his NFT scheme,

07:37 Kids 8 Football Club,

07:39 was actually something that was founded by himself

07:41 and lost 99% of its value over a year period.

07:45 So John Terry has lost more of his actual own money,

07:47 whereas this is something where Ronaldo is in partnership

07:50 with the trading platform

07:51 and has perhaps been used as a little bit of a pawn piece

07:54 in a wider chess game for the company,

07:56 as a bit of a poster boy to flog these NFTs

07:59 at such a high price.

08:00 It is all a little bit shady though.

08:02 I guess we'll just have to wait and see

08:04 as to what happens really,

08:05 if Ronaldo does end up facing the billion dollar lawsuit

08:08 and whether it goes through,

08:09 'cause I mean, he's a very powerful man

08:11 and he's working in partnership

08:13 with a very rich company as well.

08:15 And if he does lose a billion dollars,

08:16 I'm sure he'll have a few change spare as well

08:19 to keep himself going.

08:20 He's a pretty well off bloke, Ronaldo,

08:22 but NFTs in general just make no sense to me

08:27 and never ever have and never will.

08:30 And I'm surprised that I'm still talking about them

08:32 and that a story has come up today

08:34 about them because I thought they were

08:36 a thing of the past really, but apparently not.

08:39 Anyway, you can let me know what you think

08:40 about NFTs in general in the comments down below

08:43 and just enjoy the weekend.

08:45 We've got some big games coming up,

08:46 City, Tottenham, Newcastle, United as well.

08:50 So the picture in the Premier League

08:51 will look very different come Monday.

08:53 So I'm sure me and Adam will have a lot to say about it.

08:56 So have a lovely weekend, enjoy yourselves.

08:59 I've been Adam Monk.

09:00 Have a great one.

09:01 See you soon.

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