The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges Wednesday against actress Lindsay Lohan, boxer Jake Paul and a group of rappers and R&B stars, including Soulja Boy, Akon and Lil Yachty, for allegedly promoting cryptocurrencies without disclosing the fact that they were being paid to do so.
KEY FACTS
As part of an ongoing crackdown on entertainers endorsing crypto without disclosing it to their fans, the SEC charged eight celebrities, including DeAndre Cortez Way, better known as the rapper Soulja Boy, as well as porn star Kendra Lust (whose real name is Michele Mason), Akon (Aliaune Thiam), Shaffer Smith (Ne-Yo) and Miles Parks McCollum (Lil Yachty), for violating the federal Securities Act by illegally touting cryptocurrencies Tron (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT) without disclosing the fact that they were being compensated for it.
The celebrities promoted the cryptocurrencies to their thousands of followers on Twitter, with Lohan writing “super fast and 0 fee,” Thiam tweeting, “hearing a lot about #TRX,” and Smith tweeting: “What’s an ideal crypto bag? Thinking $TRX.”
Source: Forbes.
