The Miami Heat are currently focused on securing playoffs spot, but their star Jimmy Butler is the main focus of a lawsuit. It was reported that The Moskowitz Law Firm and Boies Schiller Flexner filed a lawsuit against Binance on March 31 that includes Butler.
The lawsuit states that Changpeng Zhao, Binance CEO, and his crypto exchange touted unregistered securities and paid celebrities to help, according to reports. The lawsuit followed a year-long investigation and came days after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reportedly sued Binance as well in a separate lawsuit. The CFTC alleged that the company violated trading and derivatives rules.
“Binance partnered with defendants to promote Binance and solicit new customers, including through traditional advertisements on television and social media with contracting with nationally recognized ‘Brand Ambassadors,’ such as Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler,” a Moskowitz statement shared with Decrypt read.
“Binance could not have arisen to such great heights without the massive impact of these influencers, who hyped these unregistered securities for payments of multimillion dollars,” the statement continued.
Ben Armstrong and Graham Stephan were also mentioned in the lawsuit. Both are considered YouTubers and influencers with a lot of followers. Stephan is real estate agent and investor with 4.28 million subscribers on YouTube. Armstrong is known as Bitboy Crypto with one million followers on Twitter.
Binance is reportedly the world’s biggest crypto company and their “BNB” token is the fourth-largest digital asset, with a market cap of $48.8 billion.
According to Decrypt, the lawsuit mentions how the BNB token’s “burn rate” is determined by Zhao, which represents “a classic example of a centralized exchange, which is promoting the sale of an unregistered security.” The burn rate is the number of tokens taken out of circulation.
The six-time NBA-All Star has averaged a career high 22.4 points per game, 5.9 rebounds per game, and 5.3 assists per game this season for the Heat. Despite his good numbers, the Heat have a 41-37 overall record and are currently in the seventh spot of the Eastern Conference standings.
Butler has yet to comment on the lawsuit, but he has a good track record of making wise investments. He started a coffee company called Big Face Company while teams were in Orlando for the NBA bubble in 2020. The company is part of his Big Face Brand.
Zhao did release a statement on the Binance website.
“Upon an initial review, the complaint appears to contain an incomplete recitation of facts, and we do not agree with the characterization of many of the issues alleged in the complaint. While we will only be able to give full responses in due time, we will address a few key points below,” Zhao statement read.
The statement continued, “Binance.com does not trade for profit or “manipulate” the market under any circumstances. Binance ‘trades’ in a number of situations. Our revenues are in crypto. We do need to convert them from time-to-time to cover expenses in fiat or other crypto currencies. We have affiliates that provide liquidity for less liquid pairs. These affiliates are monitored specifically not to have large profits.”
“Personally, I have two accounts at Binance: one for Binance Card, one for my crypto holdings. I eat our own dog food and store my crypto on Binance.com. I also need to convert crypto from time-to-time to pay for my personal expenses or for the Card.”
