Professional basketball player Jimmy Butler has filed for dismissal from a class-action lawsuit that targets celebrities involved in the alleged promotion of unregistered securities by cryptocurrency exchange Binance. According to the filing on July 24, Butler’s attorneys argue that the three tweets he featured in between February 2 and February 13, 2022, promoting Binance, did not mention the unregistered securities in question and therefore could not have contributed to their promotion.
The lawyers assert that Butler’s tweets did not endorse any investment but rather warned of the potential pitfalls of celebrity crypto endorsements, urging prospective Binance users to do their research on cryptocurrency investments.
The class-action lawsuit, filed in March, names Butler, Binance, its CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, and popular YouTubers Graham Stephan and Ben Armstrong, also known as BitBoy Crypto.
Binance had hired Butler, an All-Star player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association, in 2022 to promote the exchange ahead of that year’s Super Bowl. His promotional activities included a video for a free nonfungible token (NFT) collection from Binance, posted on February 2, 2022, followed by two more videos on February 7 and February 13.
The amended complaint filed on June 27 alleges that Butler’s statements were misleading as they were associated with the promotion of free Binance NFTs and its exchange platform.
Zhao, Binance, and Armstrong have also filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit. On June 15, the class-action lawsuit dismissed finance YouTuber Stephan.
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