Former World No. 1 Maria Sharapova has been booked by Delhi Police on charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy after the luxury housing project that she endorsed, never got off the ground.
Homestead Infrastructure Projects, the company behind the high-rise apartment project in Gurugram, a suburb of India’s capital New Delhi, duped hundreds of homebuyers by allegedly collecting millions of dollars from them before the project collapsed.
The Russian superstar had launched the project named Ballet by Sharapova amid huge fanfare in 2012 on her maiden visit to India. Potential buyers were assured that the complex would also house a tennis academy, a helipad and a state-of-the art clubhouse. However, the project that was to be completed by 2016, never took any kind of shape on the actual site.
Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam champion has been named in the complaint, alongside the directors of the company and sister firms Homestead Infrastructure Maintenance and Homestead Arabic Homes.
Piyush Singh, a lawyer representing one of the buyers, said: “Any celebrity who endorses any product technically becomes an agent for that company. No one would have invested in the project if Sharapova’s name was not there.”
The website of the project has quoted the 30-year-old Sharapova as saying “My goal is to make the owners feel like they own something special and different from everything else available to them. And this perspective is the same as I would have when looking for a home myself.”
Sharapova, the world’s most marketable female athlete, hasn’t made any comments on the case. The two-time French Open champion has earned more than $300 million in prize money, appearances and endorsements according to Forbes.
It has been a year of controversies for the Russian diva after she was denied a wild card by the Roland Garros organizers when she made her much publicized return to action serving her 15-month doping ban. However, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) did offer her a wild card and she didn’t disappoint her American fans as she made it through to the fourth round of the US Open before losing to Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia in three tight sets.
