Breaking: US SEC Charges NBA Star Paul Pierce With Crypto Violation

Paul Pierce SEC Settlement: The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday announced charges against former NBA player Paul Pierce for crypto violations. He was charged for endorsing EthereumMax (EMAX) tokens on social media without making relevant disclosures. The SEC said the former player made false and misleading promotional statements about EMAX. Accordingly, Pierce settled the charges with $1.409 million in penalties, disgorgement, and interest.

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Paul Pierce EMAX Promotion

The primary charge is that Paul Pierce promoted the EMAX tokens on Twitter after receiving $244,000 worth of EMAX tokens. He did not make it public that he received the tokens in exchange for promoting it, said the SEC’s statement. Terming the charges as reminder to celebrities, SEC Chair Gary Gensler said influencers need to disclose details of rewards they are receiving while promoting crypto asset ‘securities’.

“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.”

The latest SEC action on crypto related activities comes just a week after charged crypto exchange Kraken with failing to register its crypto staking service. Kraken entered into an SEC settlement agreement which involved discontinuing of the staking service and payment of $30 million in disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties.

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