Reported on Thursday, February 27, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission states that the actor Steven Seagal charged with illegally promoting cryptocurrency offering.
The SEC in its latest report notes the actor who starred in “Above the Law” failed to disclose his paid connection to promote the ICO token. However, SEC claimed that Seagal was promised to pay $750 worth of tokens called “Bitcoiin2Gen” beside $25000 in cash. Bitcoiin2Gen was a token offering back in the over-hyped days of ICOs. As for Seagel, one of the press releases termed him as “Bitcoiin2Gne’s brand ambassador”.
It was reported that the actor via his social networking profiles promoted this token, urging his fan to invest and not to miss out on the opportunity. However, for now, the regulator confirmed that the actor is agreed to settle the SEC’s allegation with a fine of around $157000. The SEC further noted that Seagal neither admitted nor denied any wrongdoing.
A Thursday email from Seagal’s lawyer reads it as follow;
“Mr. Seagal cooperated fully with the SEC’s investigation, and this matter is now behind him,” the email read. “He looks forward to continuing his life’s work as an actor, musician, martial artist and diplomat.”
Additionally, the press release published on Feb 13, 2018, described the project as “The inspiration of Bitcoiin2Gen is to make a superior or more advanced version of Original Bitcoin.”
Following Seagal’s tweet post on Twitter, his followers back then began sharing the news about the initial coin offering. Moreover, as part of SEC, these promotions appeared after six months following the SEC’s 2017 DAO report warning, which claimed: “ICO tokens may be subjected to securities”.
Continuing its stance, SEC stressed that the anti-touting provisions of the federal securities law state that;
“any celebrity or other individual who promotes a virtual token or coin that is a security must disclose the nature, scope, and amount of compensation received in exchange for the promotion.”
Seagal’s connection with ICO token is one of the latest celebrity news which appeared in the crypto industry this year. Nevertheless, back in 2018, the regulator alleged two known faces, boxer Floyd Mayweather and music producer DJ Khaled of not disclosing their dealings with the ICO projects which they allegedly promoted, enticing their fans to invest. Noticeably former agreed to pay over $600,000 while the latter agreed to pay over $15000 to settle with the regulators