The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined former NBA star Paul Pierce $1.4 million for unlawfully making misleading statements in promoting a cryptocurrency exchange. The SEC said in a release on Friday that Pierce agreed to settle charges against him and pay $1.409 million in penalties, remedies and interest. The release states that Pierce promoted EMAX tokens, which are cryptocurrency asset securities that are sold by EthereumMax, on social media without disclosing that he received payment for doing so and made false and misleading statements about the asset. Pierce received more than $244,000 worth of EMAX tokens in exchange for promoting them on Twitter, according to the SEC. A post in which he promoted the cryptocurrency included a screenshot of an account that showed large holdings and profit, the agency added, but he did not reveal that his own holdings were much lower than what the screenshot stated. “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,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in the release.
Full story : SEC fines former NBA star Paul Pierce $1.4M over cryptocurrency promotion.
