Eight celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan and Jake Paul, have been charged by US regulators with participating in an illegal crypto scheme.

 

Ednews reports citing BBC that the stars allegedly used their social platforms to boost two crypto tokens without disclosing they were paid to promote them.

 

The charges were announced by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a news release on Wednesday.

 

Lohan and Paul have paid to settle the charges without admitting guilt.

 

The other celebs charged are:

 

Musician Soulja Boy (DeAndre Cortez Way)

Singer Austin Mahone

Porn actress Kendra Lust (Michele Mason)

Rapper Lil Yachty (Miles Parks McCollum)

Musician Ne-Yo (Shaffer Smith)

Senegalese-American singer Aliaune Thiam (Akon)

The group is accused of illegally promoting TRX and BTT crypto assets "without disclosing that they were compensated for doing so and the amount of their compensation," the SEC said.

 

Justin Sun, a crypto investor and diplomat for the Caribbean island nation of Grenada, is also accused of fraud by manipulating the trading activity of the two tokens to make it appear as if they were actively being traded in a crime known as "wash trading".

 

Mr Sun, a Chinese-born protégé of Alibaba founder Jack Ma, is known for having once paid $4.6m (£3.7m) to have dinner with investor Warren Buffett.

EurasiaDiary © Must be hyperlinked when used.

Follow us:
Twitter: @Eurasia_Eng
Facebook: EurasiaEng
Telegram: @eurasia_diary