The investor has filed a lawsuit in the Central District of California against boxer Floyd Mayweather, model and actress Kim Kardashian, and ex-NBA star Paul Pierce. The reason was their participation in the promotion of the altcoin EthereumMax (EMAX). Law360.
According to the plaintiff, the celebrities conspired with the organizers of the project Steve Gentile and Giovanni Perone to raise the price of the token.
“The defendants touted the company’s prospects and the ability of investors to generate significant returns from the lucrative EMAX tokenomics. In fact, they promoted tokens in order to sell their share at a profit, ”the lawsuit says.
The altcoin became widely known in the late spring of 2021. On May 26, Pierce posted an advertising post on his Twitter – within a few days, the EMAX price peaked, after which it fell more than 80% in 11 days.
…@espn I don’t need you. I got @ethereum_max I made more money with this crypto in the past month then I did with y’all in a year. TRUTH shall set u Free 🤪🤪 my own Bosshttps://t.co/3irnuWYve3 check it out for yourself
– Paul Pierce (@ paulpierce34) May 26, 2021
In June, Mayweather appeared in a T-shirt with the EthereumMax logo at a weigh-in and battle of views against blogger Logan Paul. Earlier, the US Securities and Exchange Commission fined the boxer $ 614,000 for promoting the Centra Tech ICO.
The ad for the token was also placed in Times Square in New York. At that time, he traded on DEX Uniswap and 1inch, and was ranked 2575 in the CoinMarketCap rating.
In mid-June, the EMAX rose again – this coincided with by publishing Kardashian Stories on Instagram. After that, the coin rushed down and has lost more than 97% since reaching the peak.
In September, chapter FCA Charles Randall expressed concern about cryptocurrency startups’ promotions with influencers. Specifically, he mentioned an EthereumMax ad featuring the Kardashians.
According to the plaintiff, he bought EMAX from May 14 to June 17. The investor encouraged other token holders to join the proceedings.
Recall that in October, Oscar-winning actor Matt Damon became an ambassador for the Hong Kong cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com.