News JVTech Crypto influencers are being fined for cheating and this famous athlete is paying the price
After promoting several crypto projects that turned out to be scams, several influencers are now the target of the judiciary. A new celebrity has just been convicted for promoting a cryptocurrency on their social media almost two years ago.
New conviction in crypto case Ethereum Max
During the explosion of interest surrounding the crypto market over the past two years, many influencers have been asked to promote various virtual currencies of all kinds. However, some of them turned out to be scams, and the public figures involved are now paying the price.
Such is the case of former NBA basketball player Paul Pierce, who promoted a cryptocurrency called EthereumMax (EMAX) in 2021. Through these various ads, the influencer redirected its subscribers so that they could receive this famous fake of the second largest cryptocurrency (Ethereum). But the former Boston Celtics star is not worried about promotion itself.
In fact, he is primarily accused of a lack of transparency in his contract with the EMAX token. Specifically, the basketball player is accused of not having made it clear that this highlighting of the token was part of a paid partnership. From a document from the US Treasury Commissioner (SEC), we learn that Paul Pierce received around $244,000 (229,000 dollars) for this promotion. In addition, the athlete is accused of false advertising on Twitter, in which he misled his subscribers who were willing to invest in false earnings.
Today, this uninteresting token is part of the crypto limbo and has pushed investors’ savings into oblivion. Paul Pierce, like others before him, was fined $1.4 million. Additionally, the NBA star will be banned from promoting new cryptos for a period of 3 years – a sentence reminiscent of the one imposed on influencer Kim Kardashian for the same case.
Tracking down celebrities who have illegally promoted crypto
This new conviction obviously comes as no surprise. In June 2021, reality star Kim Kardashian promoted the same Ethereum Max token and paid the fees for it more than a year later. The same applies to the world-famous boxing champion: Floyd Mayweather.
It therefore appears that the SEC is not determined to throw in the towel these fraudulent promotions that have cost many fans dearly. In fact, Ethereum Max’s fall is far from isolated and part of a larger trend. Several projects of all kinds with no core values have benefited from a launch pad thanks to strong influencer marketing on social networks.
Matt Damon, Paris Hilton or even Jamie Foxx, for example, have approved many projects without hesitation since the mention of “paid partnership” appeared in the publications.
Therefore, it is not the promotions themselves that are illegal, but the failure to communicate about their nature. By being informed of potential rewards, the consumer is much better able to assess the veracity of the influencer’s crypto-related statements.
These initiatives, aimed at serving victims of abuse in the midst of influence, are not limited to the other side of the Atlantic. In France, a new law aimed at banning “financial investments and digital assets” is currently under consideration by the National Assembly.
