The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused former NBA player Paul Pierce of breaking anti-fraud and anti-touting statutes by advertising the EthereumMax digital asset. Pierce has accepted the charges and will be required to pay a sum of $1.409 million as a penalty.


The SEC has brought charges against the NBA star for disingenuously promoting EMAX tokens, cryptos sold by EthereumMax, on social media without revealing the compensation he received and for uttering false and deceptive words about the token, as stated in a media statement released on Friday.


The commission stated that Pierce was given over $244,000 in EMAX tokens to advertise their project via Twitter. On a specific instance, he posted an image of a wealthy account and profit figures, without clarifying that it was not his own account.


The SEC's Chair, Gary Gensler, pointed out that the NBA star's settlement was an example of the importance of disclosing who was paying them to promote investments and not lying to investors regarding security. Pierce agreed to pay $1.4 million in penalties, disgorgement and interest without accepting or denying the SEC's findings, as well as abstaining from promoting any cryptocurrency assets for three years.


Pierce, a California native and NBA Hall of Famer who spent the majority of his 19-year career with the Celtics, was let go from ESPN in April 2021 after sharing a video of himself at a gathering with strippers.


EthereumMax, which should not be mistaken for Ethereum, was developed by unidentified persons in May 2021. Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather Jr. were part of the group that publicised the speculative digital token.


The SEC took legal action against Kardashian in October last year for advertising EMAX, on her Instagram account. To settle the charges, Kardashian had to reach a settlement of $1.26 million.


Since its launch in 2021, the value of EMAX, EthereumMax's token, has drastically decreased. The token has tumbled over 99% from its peak.




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