Eight celebrities, including lil yacht and soulja boyhave been charged with illegally promoting a crypto asset entrepreneur justin sunCrypto asset values of .
The Securities and Exchange Commission said the celebrities were charged with "illegally promoting TRX and/or BTT without disclosing that they were compensated for doing so and the amount of their compensation."
Apart from the rappers, the other celebrities charged are Lindsay Lohan, jake paul, Austin Mahone, kendra lust, ne me and Akon.
The SEC simultaneously announced charges against Sun and three of its wholly-owned companies, Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., and Rainberry Inc. (formerly BitTorrent), for the unregistered offer and sale of Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent crypto-asset securities. . (MTB).
The SEC also accused Sun and his companies of fraudulently manipulating the TRX secondary market through extensive wash trading, which involves the simultaneous buying and selling of a security to make it appear as though it is actively traded without an actual change in value. the beneficial owner, and for orchestrating a scheme to pay celebrities to promote TRX and BTT without disclosing their compensation.
The SEC's complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleges that Sun and its companies offered and sold TRX and BTT as investments through multiple unregistered "bounty programs." , which directed interested parties to promote the tokens on social media. , join and recruit others on Tron affiliated Telegram and Discord channels, and create BitTorrent accounts in exchange for TRX and BTT distributions.
"Sun paid celebrities with millions of social media followers to promote unregistered offers, while specifically instructing them not to disclose their compensation," said Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "This is the same conduct that the federal securities laws were designed to protect against, regardless of the labels Sun and others used."
With the exception of Cortez Way and Soulja Boy, the celebrities charged Wednesday agreed to pay a total of more than $400,000 in repayment, interest and penalties to settle the charges, without admitting or denying the SEC's findings.
(Photo: Gunner Stahl)
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