SEC Fining Crypto Celebrities
SEC Fining Crypto Celebrities, Kim Kardashian West has been charged by federal authorities
with illegally promoting a cryptocurrency on her Instagram account and failing to disclose how much
she was paid for the posts.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC says that she did not disclose she was paid $250,000
by a company called Floom to promote its initial coin offering (ICO).
The SEC’s complaint alleges that Kardashian West’s Instagram posts portrayed her as a satisfied user of the Floom service
when, in reality, she had never used the service and had no relationship with the company.
Stephanie Avakian, SEC co–director of enforcement, said “The securities laws provide the same protections to investors
in digital assets that they offer to investors in more traditional securities,” and in another statement said,
“With many ICOs, there is no established track record for a digital asset that an issuer can point to as a basis for enhanced credibility,”
Topics
SEC Complaint
SEC Fine
Kim is not the only one
SEC Complaint
SEC director of enforcement Steven Peikin said, “Investors should be sceptical of investment advice
posted to social media platforms, and should not make decisions based on celebrity endorsements.
Social media influencers are often paid promoters, not investment professionals, and the securities they’re touting,
regardless of whether they are issued using traditional certificates or on the blockchain, could be frauds.”
Kardashian West made her first Instagram post about Floom on Oct. 1, 2017, according to the SEC complaint.
She also shared a link to the ICO on Twitter. CSB Group, LLC was the company that paid Kardashian West to promote Floom.
Moreover, Floom “falsely advertised” that it was “backed by” Y Combinator,
a startup accelerator is known for its affiliation with companies such as Airbnb and Dropbox.
SEC Fine
The SEC says that Floom was not backed by Y Combinator and the total
Kardashian West was paid in total $2.7 million by three different companies to promote ICOs, the SEC says,
she should have disclosed her payment because the payments were material information that a reasonable
the investor would want to know before making an investment decision.
Kardashian West agreed to pay the $1.3 million penalty and to refrain from promoting any securities,
digital or otherwise, for three years.
Kim is not the only one
“The celebrity endorsement game is full of deception,” said Stephanie Avakian, Co–Director of the SEC‘s
Enforcement Division. These endorsements may be unlawful if they do not disclose the nature,
source, or amount of any compensation paid directly or indirectly by such company in exchange for the promotion.
The SEC noted that some companies, including Centra Tech, had paid celebrities through
social media influencers to tout the companies and their initial coin offerings.
According to the SEC, the influencers did not disclose that they had been paid for their promotion.
Kim Kardashian was not the only one fined for promoting cryptocurrencies;
the SEC charged Jay-Z, DJ Khaled, and Floyd Mayweather in several cases for an ICO scam without disclosing how much they were paid.
It is possible that celebrities promoting different digital coins,
will have an impact on the crypto market;
Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and other business figures tweeting about different digital coins are seen as
market endorsements, but it is difficult to predict how the market will react to such a situation.