Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun has, along with Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., and Rainberry Inc.(formerly known as BitTorrent), have been charged by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the unregistered offer and sale of Tronix and BitTorrent digital asset securities.
As per a press release issued by the SEC today, Sun and his companies are also accused of fraudulently manipulating the secondary market for TRX and orchestrating a scheme to pay celebrities to promote TRX and BTT without disclosing they were being paid for it.
Eight celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul, DeAndre Cortez Way (Soulja Boy), Austin Mahone, Michele Mason (Kendra Lust), Miles Parks McCollum (Lil Yachty), Shaffer Smith (Ne-Yo), and Aliaune Thiam (Akon), have been charged for illegally promoting TRX and/or BTT without disclosing their compensation.
The SEC’s complaint states that Sun and his companies offered and sold TRX and BTT as investments through multiple unregistered “bounty programs”. Moreover, Sun, BitTorrent Foundation, and Rainberry offered and sold BTT in unregistered monthly airdrops to investors who purchased and held TRX in Tron wallets or on participating crypto trading platforms.
In addition, the SEC accuses Sun of violating the anti-fraud and market manipulation provisions of federal securities laws. Between April 2018 and February 2019, the SEC alleges Sun directed his employees to engage in more than 600,000 wash trades of TRX between two crypto trading accounts he controlled.
Per the SEC, Sun sold TRX into the secondary market to generate more than $31 million in illegal, unregistered offers and sales of the tokens.
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- Source: https://www.cryptocompare.com/email-updates/daily/2023/mar/23/
