A group of celebrities paid more than $400,000 in sanctions to US regulators after promoting cryptocurrency companies to their millions of social media followers.
Actress Lindsay Lohan, rapper Akon, and singer Ne-Yo were required to pay tens of thousands of dollars to resolve allegations that they promoted cryptocurrency investments to their social media followers without disclosing that they were compensated for doing so.
The group of celebrities, including rapper Lil Yachty, boxer and internet personality Jake Paul. And adult film actress Michelle Mason, consented to pay the US Securities and Exchange Commission more than $325,000. (SEC).
The celebrities were compensated to promote Tronix and BitTorrent to their millions of social media followers.
The celebrities who paid fines neither acknowledged nor denied the SEC’s findings.
Soulja Boy and Austin Mahone, two other prominent figures, did not settle with the SEC.
A spokesperson for Ms. Lohan, who revealed last week that she was pregnant, stated that the actress was contacted in March 2022 and, at the time, was unaware of the requirement to disclose payment for promotion and agreed to pay a fine.
She returned the £8,141 ($10,000) she was paid along with interest and paid a fine of £24 425 ($30,000).
Other celebrity representatives either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.
In recent years, prominent public figures such as Matt Damon, Tom Brady, and Reese Witherspoon have utilized their influence. And vast social media followings to promote cryptocurrencies.
However, it is prohibited to do so without disclosing compensation.
This has landed several prominent companies in hot water with US regulators.
Last year, reality television star Kim Kardashian settled federal charges by agreeing to pay an £813,635 ($1m) fine for recommending Ethereum Max tokens without disclosing she was paid to do so.
In 2020, Steven Seagal was fined $300,000 and banned from marketing investments for three years.
