Actress Lindsay Lohan, YouTuber Jake Paul and six artists were sued by a US market watchdog on Wednesday for promoting cryptocurrencies without disclosing what they were paid.
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They are accused in a lawsuit directly targeting Chinese businessman Justin Sun of marketing Tronix and BitTorrent cryptocurrencies without registering with the competent authorities, thus violating stock exchange laws.
Justin Sun is also being prosecuted for attempting to manipulate Tronics broker by artificially inflating the asset’s trading in the secondary market: he asked employees to exchange Tronics between two of his accounts on cryptocurrency platforms.
Finally, the SEC alleges that Justin Sun, known for founding the Tron ecosystem, attempted to promote his assets on social media by paying celebrities to tweet messages in favor of Tronix and BitTorrent.
Without admitting or denying their guilt, Lindsay Lohan and Jake Ball agreed to pay restitution and fines of $40,670 and $101,887, respectively.
Porn actress Michelle Mason (aka Kendra Lust), rapper Lil Yachty (Miles Parks McCollum), singers Ne-Yo (Shaffer Smith) and Akon (Alian Thiam) have agreed to donate money to settle the cases.
Also sued were rapper Soulja Boy (DeAndre Cortez Way) and singer Austin Mahone, who did not agree to a deal.
US authorities have tightened surveillance of cryptocurrencies in recent months, particularly after the bankruptcy of the FTX platform, which left many clients unable to get their investments back.
They also communicate more about petty cases.
Last October, reality TV star Kim Kardashian agreed to pay $1.26 million for praising the cryptocurrency on her Instagram account.
