HOLLYWOOD, CA - AUGUST 13: Lindsay Lohan arrives at the will.i.am Album Wrap Party at The Avalon on August 13, 2012 in Hollywood, California.
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Lindsay Lohan and other celebs charged for crypto scheme

Eight celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan, were charged by the SEC for illegally promoting cryptocurrencies without disclosing they were being paid for their endorsements. Kim Kardashian was charged in October.

8 celebrities charged by the SEC for illegally promoting crypto

A number of celebrities have been hit with charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for violating security laws and touting cryptocurrencies without disclosing they were being paid for their endorsements.

Among those charged by the SEC are: actress Lindsay Lohan, YouTube celebrity and boxer Jake Paul, rapper Soulja Boy, singer Austin Mahone, singer Lil Yachty, singer Ne-Yo, singer Akon, and adult film actress Kendra Lust.

Lohan and Paul advertised crypto asset securities Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT) without revealing that they were compensated or how much they were paid, according to a press release by the SEC.

All except Mahone and Soulja Boy have reached settlements with the SEC, Yahoo Entertainment reported.

The SEC said the settlement reached with the other six included an agreement to pay a collective fee of over $400,000 in disgorgement, interest, and penalties to settle the charges, which are not an admittance or denial of guilt, BuzzFeed News reported.

Lohan must pay a $10,000 disgorgement fine, prejudgment interest of $670, and a civil money penalty of $30,000, according to the SEC order against her.

Crypto entrepreneur also charged

In addition to the celebrities charged, the SEC is also charging crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun and his companies, Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd, and Rainberry Inc. (formerly BTT), for the “unregistered offer and sale” of TRX and BTT. Sun and his companies are also charged with fraudulently manipulating the secondary market for TRX through extensive wash trading, as well as scheming to have celebrities promote TRX and BTT without disclosing their compensation.

Wash trading is a form of market manipulation in which an investor simultaneously sells and buys the same financial instruments in order to create artificial trading activity in the marketplace, without an actual change in beneficial ownership, for the purpose of misleading investors.

Tom Brady, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, and other celebrities sued in February for promoting crypto

In February, a number of extremely well-known celebrities were named in a class-action lawsuit for promoting Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. The failed digital asset is connected to the second-most popular digital coin, Ethereum or Ether.

The lawsuit alleges the celebrities did not properly disclose their involvement with digital financial institutions, the Orange County Register reported.

Among the celebrities named in the lawsuit were: Tom Brady, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Justin Bieber, Serena Williams, Jimmy Fallon, and baseball Hall-of-Famer David Ortiz.

Kim Kardashian charged by SEC late last year

Back in October, Kim Kardashian agreed to pay $1.26 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges that she promoted a cryptocurrency on Instagram without disclosing she’d been paid $250,000 to do so, KTLA 5 reported.