Stan Wawrinka faces lawsuit over alleged cryptocurrency fraud
As the Swiss newspaper "Blick" reported, three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka took part in the virtual NFT tennis game "Ballman Project" and also acted as a figurehead. After the cryptocurrency project has flopped so far, the 39-year-old Swiss is facing a lawsuit from disappointed investors.
by Dietmar Kaspar
last edit: May 02, 2024, 06:15 pm
The new virtual tennis game "Ballman Project" should be absolutely trustworthy for tennis-loving cryptocurrency investors, especially in Switzerland. None other than three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka is featured on the still accessible website "ballmanproject.io", raising the US Open winner's trophy . Even though the 39-year-old's participation status is described as "inspired by Stan Wawrinka", he calls on tennis-loving NFT investors to participate immediately: "I play on Ballman! Enter the Game".
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However, the almost 2,600 investors have completely lost interest in the game, in which participants are supposed to buy players worth 200 to 600 francs and profit from the winnings in the virtual tournaments. The founders of the project are said to have earned almost four million euros in cryptocurrencies, while the participants in the game have only suffered losses. One participant commented on the Swiss radio station "RTS": "The game value of my 'Ballman' has dropped from 318 to 12 francs. Where did the 4 million for the project go?"
When asked by the radio station, French businessman Prosper Masquelier-Partouche commented: "We haven't had any success in terms of visitor numbers and we haven't achieved profitability." Nevertheless, the 43-year-old wants to stick with the project and keep the game accessible.
Investors are particularly disappointed by Davis Cup winner Stan Wawrinka, who is said to have received 440,000 US dollars in the cryptocurrency Ethereum for his work. He defends himself by saying: "My advances were paid back and I was paid for my image and the time I invested in the project." However, it remains doubtful whether Wawrinka was only involved in the project temporarily. According to the French commercial register, he is one of the main shareholders of the company behind the game. The disappointed investors, however, do not want to give up on the game just yet and are planning a class action lawsuit against the project.
With all the noise off the court, things aren't going well for Wawrinka in terms of sport either. In the current season, the veteran has never won more than one match at a tournament and, after his opening loss to Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas at the highly-prized ATP Challenger tournament in Aix-en-Provence, France, he has just two wins this season.
Here is the single tableau from Aix-en-Provence