Another round of today’s public figures has been hit with a cryptocurrency lawsuit.
Semafor reports that Akon, Soulja Boy, Lil Yachty, and Ne-Yo were among celebrities charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for crypto violations. The group was a part of the promotion of crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun’s alleged fraud scheme for Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT). The celebrities are facing charges for failing to disclose that it was paid promotion.
Along with the aforementioned celebrities, Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, Austin Mahone, and Kendra Lust were also charged for their involvement. Everyone, except Soulja Boy and Mahone, agreed to pay over $400,000 to settle the charges, without admitting or denying their guilt, according to the SEC.
Additionally, Semafor discloses that Sun was hit with a charge for the alleged unregistered offer and sale of TRX and BTT tokens. He also allegedly manipulated the market to paint the tokens in a better light than they actually were. The prices for the tokens dropped after the news of the SEC charges went out on March 22.
“Sun further induced investors to purchase TRX and BTT by orchestrating a promotional campaign in which he and his celebrity promoters hid the fact that the celebrities were paid for their tweets,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement, per the outlet.
The previous popular trend of crypto has been on a streak of biting back celebrities.
As previously shared by AfroTech, Shaquille O’Neal has been allegedly hiding in his house to dodge an FTX lawsuit. The reported news comes after O’Neal has been distancing himself from crypto since December 2022.
According to a team of lawyers, the NBA legend has been avoiding being served court documents.
“It is really astonishing the measures he has gone to avoid service of our complaint,” Adam Moskowitz said in an email, according to Forbes. “The irony is that the admitted facts against him are probably the worst against any of the FTX Brand Ambassadors.”
