Paul Pierce agreed to pay $1.4 million after promoting a cryptocurrency without telling people he was paid to do so, federal investigators said Friday.
The Basketball Hall of Famer, 45, shilled for EthereumMax in a series of tweets in 2021, which the Securities and Exchange Commission cited in a cease-and-desist order.
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But Pierce never disclosed that he’d been paid about $244,000 in EMAX tokens, the SEC said.
“This case is yet another reminder to celebrities: The law requires you to disclose to the public from whom and how much you are getting paid to promote investment in securities, and you can’t lie to investors when you tout a security,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler.
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Kim Kardashian had to pay $1.26 million in a similar case in October 2022.
Shortly after ESPN fired Pierce over a curious Instagram video, Pierce wrote on Twitter: “ESPN I don’t need you. I got [EthereumMax]. I made more money with this crypto in the past month then [sic] I did with y’all in a year. TRUTH shall set u Free.”
According to the SEC, this was not true. ESPN paid Pierce $1 million in the final year of his contract; he’d only made $46,000 through his crypto tokens, the feds said.
Pierce later posted what appeared to be a shot of his EMAX account showing a balance of more than $2.5 million. But in reality “his own personal holdings were in fact far lower,” the SEC said.
The picture “was a screenshot of another person’s holdings provided to him for promotional purposes,” according to the feds.
Pierce was compensated with 1,622,319,996,192 EMAX tokens, the SEC said. That payment would’ve been worth around $244,000 at the time. As of Friday, it would be worth about $1,700, according to Crypto.com.
Pierce did not admit wrongdoing but agreed to pay a $1.15 million penalty and approximately $240,000 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest, the SEC said. He was also prohibited from promoting any crypto assets for three years.
With News Wire Services
