The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday charged Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul and a number of other different celebrities with failing to reveal that they have been paid to advertise crypto.
The celebrities agreed to pay $USD400,000 ($598,000), together with fines, and return what they have been paid for the promotion.
Lohan was paid $15,000 to advertise Tronix tokens provided by Justin Sun’s firm Tron.
“Exploring #DeFi and already liking $JST, $SUN on $TRX. Super fast and 0 fee. Good job @justinsuntron,” Lohan tweeted on February 11, 2021. The SEC mentioned Lohan didn’t disclose that the tweet was a paid endorsement.
A spokesperson for Lohan mentioned the celeb “was contacted in March 2022 and was unaware of the disclosure requirement. She agreed to pay a fine to resolve the matter.”
Similarly, Paul was paid $37,000 for an endorsement of Tronix, which he tweeted a day after Lohan.
Other celebrities that agreed to settle their fees embrace Michele Mason (also referred to as Kendra Lust), Miles Parks McCollum (Lil Yachty), Shaffer Smith (Ne-Yo) and Aliaune Thiam (Akon).
For their violations, Lohan agreed to pay $45,000 in fines along with the $15,000 she earned for the promotion. Paul agreed to pay $112,000 in fines on high of the $37,000 he earned.
A spokesperson for Paul declined to remark.
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The SEC additionally introduced that it was suing Sun and three of his corporations for failing to correctly register crypto securities, manipulating markets and failing to reveal paid relationships with the celebrities.
It additionally sued DeAndre Cortez Way, also referred to as Soulja Boy, who was allegedly a paid endorser for Tronix and didn’t disclose his relationship with the corporate.
A spokesperson for Soulja Boy couldn’t be reached for remark.
“As alleged in the complaint, Sun and others used an age-old playbook to mislead and harm investors by first offering securities without complying with registration and disclosure requirements and then manipulating the market for those very securities,” mentioned Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s division of enforcement, in a press release.
“At the same time, Sun paid celebrities with millions of social media followers to tout the unregistered offerings, while specifically directing that they not disclose their compensation.”
Source: www.9news.com.au
