NBA Legend Paul Pierce Settles With SEC Over EthereumMAX Scandal

Crypto regulations deepen as regulators continue to announce actions against the crypto industry. Today, the NBA Hall of Fame player Paul Pierce settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over charges of unlawful touting digital asset EthereumMax, which the regulator considers a ‘crypto security.’

This comes after the SEC continues to crack down on the crypto industry. Pierce was charged with the same offense as other celebrities who had something to do with promoting the cash grab scheme supported by the EthereumMax project.  

The Offense, The Judgement, And The EthereumMax Lesson 

In 2021, NBA legend Pierce promoted EthereumMax tokens. According to the SEC, this is considered an offense as Pierece failed to disclose that he was promoting the token for a profit. 

Reportedly, pierce was paid a total sum of more than $244,000 in EMAX tokens. As part of his settlement with the SEC, the NBA player will pay a sum of  $1.1 million as a penalty for the offense committed and discharge “approximately $240,000,” according to the SEC. 

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler noted:

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.

Aside from the fine, Pierce’s punishment includes abstaining from promoting any crypto assets for the next three years. 

The SEC further noted that Pierce’s promotion of EthereumMax on his social media page was another form of misleading the public about his EMAX holding. The player claimed he had much more EMAX tokens by sharing a screenshot with his followers.

However, the player dumpled his EMAX tokens on the market. Pierce wrote on Twitter in May 2021, ″@espn I don’t need you, “I got @ethereum_max I made more money with this crypto in the past month than I did with y’all in a year.”

Pierce Is Just One Of Them

Pierce hasn’t been the only celebrity involved in the legal case over promoting the EMAX project. Stars such as Kim Kardashian and sports legend Floyd Mayweather Jr were also part of a case from the SEC over their links to EthereumMax. 

Just like Pierce, Kim Kardashian settled with the SEC and paid a $1.2 million fine. On the other hand, Mayweather chose to face the SEC charges. As reported by Bitcoinist last October, the boxing legend’s attorney eventually filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, as Mayweather claimed in the action that he had never made a statement to the EMAX token 

Furthermore, this is just one of the many SEC news that made headlines over the past week. On Monday, the regulator ordered crypto firm Paxos to stop distributing BUSD, the Binance-branded stablecoin.

Additionally, On Thursday, the SEC sued Do Kwon, founder of the now ill-fated project Terra and Terraform Labs, for “orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud” through the algorithmic UST stablecoin. 

Meanwhile, the crypto market is still in an uptrend ignoring the SEC crackdown. Ethereum has experienced a slight retracement, down by 2.5% and 1.5% in the past 24 hours. As of this writing, the global crypto market still sits steadily above $1.1 trillion. 

Featured image from SBnation, Chart from TradingView