Former NBA player Paul Pierce has agreed to pay $1.409 million to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as penalties for his undisclosed promotion of the unregistered securities token EthereumMax ( EMAX), according to a Feb. 17 statement.
The second said the NBA star received over $244,000 worth of EMAX tokens to promote the tokens on Twitter. The financial regulator added that the NBA star made false and misleading promotional claims about the crypto asset.
“Investors have a right to know whether security advertising is unbiased, and Mr. Pierce has not disclosed this information.” said SEC Director Gurbir Grewal
According to the financial watchdog, Pierce violated anti-soliciting and anti-fraud provisions of federal securities laws.
The former NBA star neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s findings.
According to the statement, Pierce has agreed not to promote any crypto asset securities for three years.
Speaking about the charges, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said:
“When celebrities endorse investment opportunities, including crypto asset securities, investors should be careful to research whether the investments are right for them, and they should know why celebrities are making these endorsements.”
The SEC previously accused American celebrity Kim Kardashian of promoting the same token. Kardashian paid a $1.26 million fine to settle the charges.