Lil Yachty, Akon & Others Charged For Illegally Promoting Crypto

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Akon, Lil Yachty, Ne-Yo, Jake Paul, and other celebs were charged by the Securities & Exchange Commission for illegally promoting cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrency can be a lot of things when used safely and correctly. You can use it to pay for everyday items or to invest, but it’s essential to know the basics of crypto to avoid being scammed. In recent years crypto scammers have run wild and in some cases, they’ve used celebrities to target consumers.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Securities and Exchange Commission is holding stars accountable for a crypto scheme tied to Justin Sun and his companies Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., and Rainberry Inc.

On Wednesday, the SEC announced new charges against Akon, Ne-Yo, Soulja Boy, Jake Paul, Lil Yachty, Lindsay Lohan, and other influencers for illegally promoting crypto “without disclosing that they were compensated for doing so and the amount of their compensation.”

“As alleged in the complaint, Sun and others used an age-old playbook to mislead and harm investors by first offering securities without complying with registration and disclosure requirements and then manipulating the market for those very securities,” said Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement reports The Reporter. “At the same time, Sun paid celebrities with millions of social media followers to tout the unregistered offerings, while specifically directing that they not disclose their compensation. This is the very conduct that the federal securities laws were designed to protect against regardless of the labels Sun and others used.”

The SEC says that with the exception of Mahone and Soulja Boy (real name DeAndre Cortez Way), the stars have agreed to pay a penalty of more than $400,000, without admitting or denying the charges.

This is the second set of charges brought against Soulja Boy in a year.