SEC Accuses Lindsay Lohan and Other Celebrities of Illegally Promoting Cryptocurrency

Eight American celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan, have been detained by the SEC in connection with Justin Sun’s operations with Tronix and BitTorrent tokens.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sorted out one of the cases of crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, accusing him, among other things, of unregistered transactions with Tronix and BitTorrent tokens. If these tokens seem familiar even to those who are only remotely interested in cryptocurrencies, it is because several celebrities have promoted them on social media. And today they are also found in the SEC viewfinder. According to the American agency, eight celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, Soulja Boy, Ne-Yo and Akon, allegedly illegally promoted these tokens on the network without specifying that they were paid for it.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has singled out eight American celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan.

“…Justin Sun has paid celebrities with millions of followers to promote unregistered offers while specifically asking them not to disclose their reward. This is exactly what federal security laws are trying to avoid, no matter what language Justin Sun and others may use,” SEC Chief Executive Gurbir S. Grewal said in a statement.

All of the accused celebrities, except Soulja Boy and artist Austin Mahone, agreed to pay a $400,000 collective fine to settle the case. This is not the first time the SEC has sued celebrities for promoting cryptocurrencies on social media. Previously, Kim Kardashian and NBA Hall of Famer Paul Pierce advertised EthereumMax’s EMAX token without saying they were paid for it. Kim Kardashian paid $1.26 million and Paul Pierce paid $1.4 million to settle their affairs.

as part of Justin Sun’s transactions with Tronix and BitTorrent tokens

As for Justin Sun, the SEC charges him with violating federal anti-fraud and market manipulation laws. The agency explains that it offered the tokens as an investment through undisclosed programs that required members to promote the tokens on social media to attract new ones. In addition, the SEC accuses Justin Sun of encouraging employees to artificially inflate the value of Tronix by forcing them to buy and sell at the same time to simulate high activity.

“As explained in the filing,” says Gurbir S. Grewal, “Justin Sun and others used an old strategy to deceive and harm investors by offering securities without accountability and transparency, and then manipulating the market for those same securities.”