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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has brought charges against NBA Hall of Famer Paul Pierce, accusing him of unlawfully touting and making misleading statements about tokens sold by EthereumMax, according to a Friday release.
The regulator further alleged that the former Boston Celtics player touted the tokens on social media without disclosing how much he got paid for the promotion. The SEC’s order discovered that he received over $244K worth of EMAX tokens to promote them on Twitter.
Pierce agreed to settle the charges and pay $1.4M in penalties, disgorgement and interest, the statement said. He neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s findings and agreed to not promote any crypto asset securities for three years.
“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 statement.
The settlement comes after Kim Kardashian in October 2022 had agreed to pay $1.26M in penalties to resolve charges that she touted EthereumMax token on social media without disclosing the payment she received for the promotion.
In January 2022, Floyd Mayweather, Kim Kardashian and Paul Pierce were among the defendants in a class-action lawsuit accusing them of misleading their social media followers about EthereumMax.