Skip to main content

DJ Khaled and Floyd Mayweather charged by US SEC for Illegally promoting Bitcoin

                             DJ Khaled and?Floyd Mayweather charged by US SEC for Illegally promoting Bitcoin
Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr and music producer DJ Khaled will pay thousands of dollars to settle charges that they violated US financial laws.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission announced the settlement on Thursday as the US financial regulator said the men failed to disclose payments they received to promote certain cryptocurrency investments.

The men neither admitted nor denied the claims, but agreed to pay combined penalties totalling more than $750,000. The two cases are the first the SEC has brought over touting violations involving initial coin offerings or ICOs, a relatively new investment vehicle associated with crypto-currencies. An ICO allows people to invest in a company by buying "tokens" or "coins" that it issues.

Despite the new language, the SEC has warned investors that it views many of the offerings as investments governed by existing securities laws. Those rules require disclosure of payments in exchange for publicity.  In this case, the SEC said Mayweather received $300,000 to promote three separate offerings, including one by Centra Tech, a Miami company that the SEC accused of fraud in April.

Mayweather's promotions included a message to his Twitter followers that Centra's ICO "starts in a few hours. Get yours before they sell out, I got mine…" Khaled was paid $50,000 by the same company, the SEC said.

The SEC said DJ Khaled agreed to repay the $50,000 he received for the endorsement, as well as a $100,000 fine and interest while Mayweather will repay the $300,000 he received, as well as a $300,000 fine and interest.

SEC Enforcement Division Co-Director Steven Peikin said the cases were a reminder that investors should "be sceptical of investment advice posted to social media platforms, and should not make decisions based on celebrity endorsements".

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Man Sentenced To 1 Year Imprisonment For Breaching Official Trust

Justice A Wuse Zone 2 Magistrates’ Court, Abuja on Tuesday, sentenced a 33-year-old civil servant, Aminu Maru, to one year imprison  for breach of official trust. The convict, who resides in Janyan house, opposite Gwagwalada Park, Area 1, Abuja,however, pleaded guilty to the one count charge of breach of official trust.and begged for mercy. The Magistrate, Mr Raphael Egbe, in his judgement said the court relied on the provision of section 99 B of the penal code to sentence the convict. Egbe, who told the convict to be of good behaviour so as not to go back to crime, however, gave him an option of N100, 000. The prosecutor, Mr Jamil Hamisu, had told the court that investigations by the State Security Service (SSS) revealed that Maru committed the offence between Nov. 15 and Nov. 21, 2017. Hamisu said that the convict was an accountant attached to the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) but seconded to the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON)....
Post a Comment
Read more

Again, EFCC Arrests Internet Fraudsters

                                       The Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, has arrested three suspected internet fraudsters, at No 24, 1st Avenue, Fort Royal Estate, Airport road, Abuja. The suspects are; Marvin Nwankwo, Prince Ojenike and Jude Olatekobowale. They created a Facebook account with the following names: Rodney David; David Rodgers and Carlos David, respectively. Their arrest was based on intelligence report that the suspects turned the said residence as their office, using laptops, phone and other gadgets to defraud innocent people, including foreigners, of their hard earned money and other valuables.                           ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Suicide bomber kills five, injures six in Borno

Borno state on map used to illustrate the story                       A male suicide bomber on Tuesday killed five members of the Civilian Joint Task Force, while six others were injured in Madarari area in Konduga council of Borno. Ibrahim Abdulkadir, Zonal Information Officer of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Borno, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). He told NAN in Maiduguri that the incident occurred around 1:30 p.m. He said that the bomber detonated his Improvised Explosive Device (IED), at a military check point killing the victims. Bello Danbatta, the spokesperson of the Civilian JTF, said he lost four of his men including the leader of the task force in Konduga. Mr Danbatta described the loss as shocking and said that many of his members had lost their lives fighting Boko Haram. “”We evacuated the injured victims ...
Post a Comment
Read more