Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul and other celebrities charged $400,000 for violating crypto rules

NEW YORK (CNN) – The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday indicted Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul and several other celebrities for failing to disclose that they were paid to promote crypto.

The celebs agreed to pay $400,000, inclusive fines and return what they were paid for promotion.

Lohan was paid $10,000 to promote Tronix tokens offered by Justin Sun’s company, Tron.

“I’m exploring #DeFi and already like $JST, $SUN on $TRX. Super fast and 0 fees. Good job @justinsuntron,” Lohan tweeted on Feb. 11, 2021. The SEC said Lohan did not disclose that the tweet was a paid endorsement.

A spokesman for Lohan said the celebrity “was contacted in March 2022 and was unaware of disclosure requirements. She agreed to pay a fine to resolve the matter.”

Similarly, Paul received $25,000 for a referral from Tronix that he tweeted a day after Lohan.

Other celebrities who have agreed to settle their charges include Michele Mason (aka Kendra Lust), Miles Parks McCollum (Lil Yachty), Shaffer Smith (Ne-Yo), and Aliaune Thiam (Akon).

For her violations, Lohan agreed to pay a fine of $30,000 in addition to the $10,000 she earned for the promotion. Paul agreed to pay a $75,000 fine in addition to the $25,000 he earned.

A spokesman for Paul declined to comment.

The SEC also announced that it is suing Sun and three of its companies for improperly registering cryptocurrency securities, manipulating markets, and failing to disclose paid relationships with the celebrities. It also sued DeAndre Cortez Way, aka Soulja Boy, who allegedly was a paid endorser for Tronix and did not disclose his relationship with the company.

A spokesman for Soulja Boy could not be reached for comment.

“As alleged in the complaint, Sun and others used an age-old playbook to mislead and harm investors by first offering securities without complying with registration and disclosure requirements and then manipulating the market for those very securities,” Gurbir said Grewal, director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division in a statement. “At the same time, Sun paid celebrities with millions of social media followers to promote the unregistered offerings and specifically instructed them not to disclose their compensation.”