A slew of celebrities, including Floyd Mayweather and Kim Kardashian, have been sued for their role in promoting worthless crypto coins. According to court papers, several celebrities have been sued in a California Federal Court as part of a class-action suit against EthereumMax (EMAX), a defunct cryptocurrency project.
Details Of The Lawsuit
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Ryan Huegerich, a New York resident. In the lawsuit, Huegerich states that he suffered investment losses as a result of the conduct of the defendants. Those named in the lawsuit are Giovanni Perone, Justin French, and Steve Gentile who are the “Executive Defendants.” NBA star Paul Pierce, reality TV star Kimberly Kardashian, and professional boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. are named as the “Promoter Defendants.”
In the lawsuit, Huegerich alleges that EthereumMax is a speculative digital token that was created by a secretive group of developers. The celebrities are accused of telling their millions of followers on social media to buy the EMAX cryptocurrency only for them to sell when the price was at its peak. In essence, the trio is accused of taking part in a pump and dump scheme.
During his exhibition match with social media personality Logan Paul, Mayweather was seen wearing shorts with the EthereumMax URL. At an interview before the match, Mayweather claimed to have made over 100 million dollars from the ‘legalized bank robbery.’
Mayweather was also interviewed by Fox News in which he praised crypto and encouraged his fans to buy his NFTs. At the time, Mayweather said everyone should choose whatever crypto they wanted to invest in. He stated that “Cryptocurrency, it’s the new wave, it’s what everybody’s doing.” The retired boxing legend is also accused of violating a 2018 settlement with the SEC after he allegedly failed to disclose payments received from promoting the crypto project.
NBA star Paul Pierce on his part tweeted about the EMAX cryptocurrency to his followers. At the time, he tweeted that he made “more money with this crypto in the past month than I did with y’all in a year.”
.@espn I don’t need you. I got @ethereum_max I made more money with this crypto in the past month then I did with y’all in a year. TRUTH shall set u Free 🤪🤪 my own Bosshttps://t.co/3irnuWYve3 check it out for yourself
— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) May 26, 2021
On her part, Kim Kardashian promoted the EMAX project to her 278 million followers. At the time, she asked her followers to join the EMAX community. The Instagram post prompted a response from the head of the UK’s FCA, who said that the post might have been “the financial promotion with the single biggest audience reach in history,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
Thus far, none of the celebrities mentioned in the lawsuit have made any public statements.
Celebrities And Crypto Projects
This is not the first a celebrity has been accused of promoting a crypto scam. In September 2020, Rapper T.I. settled with the SEC for $75,000 for his role in promoting a crypto project, which the SEC later determined was fraudulent.
Summary
When investing in any crypto project, it is always important to conduct a careful review of the project. As various court cases have shown in the recent past, a project being promoted by a celebrity is not a guarantee that it is genuine. Besides that, one should always only invest an amount they can afford to lose when investing in the crypto sector.
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