NBA legend Paul Pierce has landed in trouble due to past crypto endorsements. Read more to know about it.
Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce was charged for unlawfully touting crypto securities last week by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
However, SEC has said that Hall of Famer Paul Pierce has agreed to pay $1.409 million in penalties, disgorgement, and interest to settle the charges made by SEC.
Notably, SEC charged Pierce with the lawsuit because Pierce made public statements about EthereumMax and promoted the tokens on social media.
″@espn I don’t need you,” Pierce said in a tweet in May 2021. “I got @ethereum_max I made more money with this crypto in the past month then I did with y’all in a year.”
The above tweet came a month after Pierce, then an NBA analyst with ESPN parted ways, after a video with Pierce and exotic dancers surfaced on Instagram.
Further, the SEC has alleged that Pierce did not state that he was compensated for that tweet promotion and also that EMAX tokens were worth over $244,000.
What happened to Paul Pierce?
The charge against Pierce came because the Securities and Exchange Commission enforces the law against market manipulation as well as to “protect investors; maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and facilitate capital formation.”
Now, Pierce is banned from promoting any crypto asset securities for the next three years.
“This case is yet another reminder to celebrities: The law requires you to disclose to the public from whom and how much you are getting paid to promote investment in securities, and you can’t lie to investors when you tout a security,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler in a statement. “When celebrities endorse investment opportunities, including crypto-asset securities, investors should be careful to research if the investments are right for them, and they should know why celebrities are making those endorsements.”
Interestingly, Pierce was originally part of a federal class action lawsuit by investors who purchased EMAX tokens.
The said lawsuit also included high-profile celebrities such as Antonio Brown, Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Kim Kardashian.
The EMAX token investors who filed the lawsuit claimed that they suffered financial losses based on the word of those celebrities.
Nevertheless, the lawsuit was rejected and thrown out in December, thus clearing the celebrities of any charge.
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