Professional boxer and social media personality Jake Paul was among the eight celebrities charged by federal regulators with illegally promoting two cryptocurrencies without disclosing they were paid to do so.
Various celebrities were paid to promote two cryptocurrencies, Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT), which were sold by crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun. According to Lindsay Lohan, an actress also involved in the scandal, she was offered $10,000 to promote Tronix tokens on Twitter but failed to disclose that the social media post was a paid endorsement. Per her spokesperson, she “was unaware of the disclosure requirement. She agreed to pay a fine to resolve the matter.”
According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Paul and others are being charged with “illegally touting TRX and/or BTT without disclosing that they were compensated for doing so and the amount of their compensation” and are required to pay upwards of $400,000 to settle the charges.
“This case demonstrates again the high-risk investors face when crypto asset securities are offered and sold without proper disclosure,” SEC chair Gary Gensler said in a statement. “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.”
Gensler added, “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.”
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Thus far, Paul’s representatives refused to comment on the situation and are committed to settling the charges their client faces.
Jake Paul took hallucinogens with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers?
Besides cryptocurrency, Jake Paul recently revealed he took the hallucinogen drug ayahuasca with famed NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The substance contains dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, and is commonly used in religious practices in South America.
“Aaron and I were actually together when we did the ayahuasca,” the YouTuber said in an interview with FOX. “He’s more publicly known for speaking about it, but I was actually there with him when we did it. We spent the week there doing it. Definitely share that similarity in terms of spirituality and reflecting and going into the deepest parts of the mind.”
Paul even admitted he might want to follow in Rodgers’ footsteps and attempt a darkness retreat. The quarterback opened up about partaking in an isolation retreat in which he spent a week alone in a cabin but emerged on the other side a stronger person.
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