Maria Sharapova charged with cheating and criminal conspiracy by Delhi Police

Tennis star Maria Sharapova has been charged with cheating and criminal conspiracy by Delhi Police on aplea by people who invested inahousing project which she endorsed. Sharapova hadendorsed the luxury housing project during her India trip in 2012, but it collapsed and the builders issued no refund.

Homestead infrastructure development, the firmbehind the housing project,had allegedly taken crores of rupees from homebuyers before the project collapsed.

The lawyer representing one of the buyers, Piyush Singh, said that police had filed initial charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy against Sharapova as part of a wider case against the firm homestead infrastructure development.

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Singh also explained the reason for booking Sharapova under the same charges is that any celebrity who endorses any product technically becomes an agent for the company.

"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," said Singh.

The project in Gurugram was supposed to be ready in 2016 but, Singh said, construction work was abandoned after builders collected the money from homebuyers.

Sharapova came to India in 2012 to launch the luxury high-rise apartment complex name Ballet by Sharapova, but the project never took off.

The buyers were told that the infrastructure would have a tennis academy, a clubhouse, and helipad.

The website of the project has quoted 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"

According to Forbes, the Sharapova made almost $30 million in 2015, with $23 million of the coming from endorsements like the projects in Gurgaon.