Tadej Pogacar’s latest sponsorship deal questioned after report outlines money laundering case and alleged illicit activity

Tadej Pogacar’s newly announced sponsorship agreement has come under increased scrutiny following a detailed report outlining past legal and regulatory issues linked to the crypto company he has partnered with.

Earlier this week, Pogacar confirmed that he had become a global brand ambassador for crypto platform KuCoin, marking the latest expansion of his growing off-bike sponsorship portfolio. However, a subsequent investigation published by road.cc has raised questions about the background of the exchange and its previous dealings with regulators.

According to the road.cc report, KuCoin and two of its founders pleaded guilty in the United States last year to violations of anti-money laundering laws. US authorities alleged that the platform failed to implement effective know your customer and anti-money laundering programmes while serving American users, and that it handled billions of dollars in transactions later described as illicit or suspicious.

In a statement cited by road.cc, US attorney Danielle Sassoon said: “For years, KuCoin avoided implementing required anti-money laundering policies designed to identify criminal actors and prevent illicit transactions. As a result, KuCoin was used to facilitate billions of dollars’ worth of suspicious transactions and to transmit potentially criminal proceeds, including proceeds from darknet markets and malware, ransomware, and fraud schemes.”

The exchange reportedly agreed to pay substantial financial penalties and to withdraw from the US market for a fixed period as part of the case. The road.cc report also details further regulatory action taken against KuCoin in other jurisdictions, including fines and bans related to operating without proper registration and compliance.

The emergence of such scrutiny is unusual in the context of Pogacar’s sponsorship history. The four-time Tour de France winner has typically aligned himself with established equipment, performance and lifestyle brands, with his commercial relationships rarely attracting controversy within the sport.

The road.cc report places the latest deal within a broader pattern of crypto sponsorships in sport, an area that has faced increasing attention following high-profile exchange collapses and regulatory crackdowns in recent years. Speaking to road.cc, software engineer and cryptocurrency researcher Molly White drew comparisons with previous cases involving athletes promoting crypto platforms.

“Personally, I don’t think it's appropriate for sports figures to partner with any crypto exchange, regardless of how well run they claim to be,” White said. “It's shades of FTX all over again. At least in the US, Tom Brady and Steph Curry touting FTX as the ‘safe and easy place to buy crypto’ is far from a distant memory.”

White added that those endorsements later became the subject of lawsuits after investors suffered losses, a backdrop that has shaped wider public scepticism around crypto partnerships in elite sport.

The road.cc report also states that Pogacar’s representatives declined to comment when asked whether the rider or his management team were aware of KuCoin’s past legal issues prior to the partnership being announced. His UAE Team Emirates - XRG squad had not responded to questions at the time of publication.

Neither Pogacar nor KuCoin have addressed the points raised in the report publicly since its release. Financial details of the ambassador agreement have not been disclosed, and no clarification has been offered on how the partnership will be activated or governed.

What the reporting has done, however, is introduce a level of public questioning not normally associated with Pogacar’s off-bike activities. As one of cycling’s most marketable figures, his sponsorship choices are increasingly viewed through a broader lens, particularly when they extend beyond the sport’s traditional commercial ecosystem.