8 Celebs Charged in Crypto Scam, Including Lindsay Lohan; Two Allegedly Haven't Agreed to Pay Fines
Lindsay Lohan and seven other celebs were charged as part of an alleged “crypto scam.”
The stars were hit with “with Securities and Exchange Commission charges for violating securities laws in touting crypto currencies,” according to Variety.
The celebs were all connected to crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun and three of his companies: Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., and Rainberry Inc. They were charged for touting crypto on social media and not disclosing that they were compensated.
“This case demonstrates again the high risk investors face when crypto asset securities are offered and sold without proper disclosure,” said SEC chair Gary Gensler. “As alleged, Sun and his companies not only targeted U.S. investors in their unregistered offers and sales, generating millions in illegal proceeds at the expense of investors, but they also coordinated wash trading on an unregistered trading platform to create the misleading appearance of active trading in TRX. Sun further induced investors to purchase TRX and BTT by orchestrating a promotional campaign in which he and his celebrity promoters hid the fact that the celebrities were paid for their tweets.”
Six of the celebs have reached settlements with the SEC that include “more than $400,000 in disgorgement, interest, and penalties to settle the charges, without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings.”
(Editor’s note: The graphic used here is a stock photo that is not connected to the case)
Browse through the slideshow to see the celebs and which ones haven’t reached settlements…