Remember when all of those celebrities were getting paid millions to promote cryptocurrencies and NFTs? It feels like that was happening so long ago, but really it was this year and last year. Kim Kardashian was one of those celebrities being paid to shill for crypto. She used her Instagram to promote EthereumMax to her 330-million-plus followers, then she failed to disclose that paid promotion to the SEC. Now Kim has paid a seven-figure SEC fine and she had to promise the SEC to not promote any cryptocurrency on her social media for three years.
Kim Kardashian’s crypto misadventure has landed her in hot water with federal regulators. The reality TV superstar and influencer has settled Securities and Exchange Commission charges that she failed to disclose a payment she received for touting a crypto asset on her Instagram feed, the agency announced Monday morning.
“This case is a reminder that, when celebrities or influencers endorse investment opportunities, including crypto asset securities, it doesn’t mean that those investment products are right for all investors,” Gary Gensler, chairman of the SEC, said in a news release.
Representatives for Kardashian didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kardashian, who is reportedly worth $1.8 billion, agreed to pay $1.26 million to settle the charges over a promotion on Meta’s Instagram for EthereumMax’s crypto asset, the SEC said. She will also cooperate with an ongoing investigation, and has agreed to not promote crypto securities for three years, the regulator added.
However, Kardashian, who has built a media and lifestyle empire, neither admitted to nor denied the regulator’s findings, the SEC said.
Kardashian has already felt regulatory heat over her EthereumMax promo, which she posted on Instagram in June of last year. She started the post by asking her millions of followers, “ARE YOU INTO CRYPTO??? THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE BUT SHARING WHAT MY FRIENDS JUST TOLD ME ABOUT THE ETHEREUM MAX TOKEN.”
Investors sued her, former NBA star Paul Pierce and superstar boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. earlier this year over their promos for EthereumMax, accusing them of artificially inflating the value of the asset.
The SEC on Monday said Kardashian failed to report that she was paid $250,000 to publish a post about EMAX tokens, a crypto asset offered by EthereumMax. The post, which featured the hashtag ”#ad,” included a link to the EthereumMax website, which gives users instructions about how to buy the tokens, the regulator added. Her failure to disclose the payment was a violation of federal securities laws, the SEC said. She agreed to pay $260,000, which includes the payment she received, plus interest, in addition to the $1 million penalty, the agency added.
Oh well. F–k around and find out. I wish all of those crypto-bro celebrities had been smarter about their adventures in crypto, but yeah, it was particularly stupid for Kim. Kim and her carefully curated image and social media didn’t need this mess. What’s wild is that in recent years, Kim has used her social media to almost exclusively promote her own businesses and brands, not paid advertisements for other people’s schemes. At least Kim settled and agreed to the deal her lawyers probably worked out with the SEC.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Instagram.
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- Paris, FRANCE – Kim Kardashian and her daughter North West leave restaurant Ferdi before heading to Costes in Paris. Pictured: Kim Kardashian BACKGRID USA 5 JULY 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: Best Image / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Malibu, CA – Kim Kardashian leaves 818 Tequila party at SoHo House in Malibu, CA. Pictured: Kim kardashian BACKGRID USA 18 AUGUST 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Malibu, CA – Kim Kardashian leaves 818 Tequila party at SoHo House in Malibu, CA. Pictured: Kim Kardashian BACKGRID USA 18 AUGUST 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Milan, ITALY – Reality superstar Kim Kardashian steals the spotlight in a shimmering silver corset dress that shows off her famous curves. The star arrived with her sister Khloe Kardashian at the Dolce Gabbana afterparty in Milan, Italy. Pictured: Kim Kardashian BACKGRID USA 24 SEPTEMBER 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: @Lucasgro / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Milan, ITALY – Reality superstar Kim Kardashian steals the spotlight in a shimmering silver corset dress that shows off her famous curves. The star arrived with her sister Khloe Kardashian at the Dolce Gabbana afterparty in Milan, Italy. Pictured: Kim Kardashian BACKGRID USA 24 SEPTEMBER 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: @Lucasgro / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
if only people would remember this about all of the other absolute garbage that they shill. you would think people would have learned when they tried to pretend that they were selling their old clothes for charity. or when mom creates a church for tax breaks. we need to wake up.
What I don’t understand about being a rich, greedy, a**hole is she didn’t need the money.
I believe she does need the money to maintain her lifestyle. I do not and never have believed that Kardashian or her younger sister are billionaires. There is a reason all of them still shill tacky garbage on IG as Josephine mentioned above.
Lol…she’s so gross. A tooth shaped mess.
330 Million followers, i cant wrap my head around that. And Kim as suppossedly the most populat sister she really always has to nab whatever her sisters get attention for. I know she was dying inside when Kylie allegedly became the first billionaire, a year later and she is one too. Couldnt let Khloe do the skinny thing alone or Kourtney date the lanky white guy. It must be exhausting!
Kim has been outed years ago for buying followers. A very large portion of her followers are paid bots, it’s so pathetic.
Yeah I mean when you have that many followers but get way less than 1 million likes on a post, it’s more than obvous a lot of her followers are fake. Everything this family does involves deception.
I would not be shocked at all if they bought followers.
I’m impressed that the SEC made her pay that much tbh. A million dollar fine isn’t anything to her, but having to pay back her fee, plus interest PLUS the fine is more than I have come to expect from any sort of celebrity law breaking.
Also kinda laughing at the “don’t advertise crypto for three years” imagine they told her she couldn’t advertise ANYTHING for three years? She’d implode. Maybe that’s why she agreed to what they fined her.
Also also, isn’t Crypto kinda dead?
In a world where consequences don’t seem to apply to rich people, I’m thrilled that the fine is so much bigger than what she was paid. It is appropriate and significant.
Are other “billionaires” this cash grabby? Still doing these weird little endorsements?
You’d be surprised. They got there hustling, a lot of them stay that way. Also, they are always investing in each other’s side hustles. Did you see the Elon Musk text messages that came out last week? You and I might swap recipes, they swap investment cash and publicly pumping up each other’s businesses.
The Kartrashians. Ugh.
Will they never go away? We can only hope.
NEVER! There is a next generation of 12 and counting KarJenners, ill be shocked if they are not already getting groomed for the biz. In 15 years it will be Kim as the momager.
Can somebody please explain why #ad was not enough as acknowledgment that the post is paid for? Non-American here and I don’t know the rules.
SEC knew Kim was guilty, as did Kim. Seems fair.
@laaalaa
SEC reporting accountant here 🙂
Because when you’re advertising a financial instrument there are a lot of laws to follow and disclosures that have to be made – think about how Fidelity or another company has to disclose at the end of their commercials that you could lose money on the investment. They also disclose that they’re paid fees.
This is a very high-level explanation but it is not as simple as posting a hashtag that says “ad.”
And the above shouldn’t be considered financial advice or relied upon in a court of law (that’s me protecting myself). 😜
Wow, it’s great to have your input on this topic!
It could be the rules are different for a financial instrument than for a product like a skin cream. But $250k does seem like a small amount to risk a big headache for. I can’t believe her managers nor finance people didn’t advise her about this, unless its still Kris Jenner in charge. But then others in the scam are getting sued by investors so, oh well.
ETA Dena, your post got in before mine, lol.
@Laalaa – it’s a bit like US infomercials for pharmaceuticals.
As taking those drugs may carry a lot of risk and side effects – those risks and side-effects and contra-indications have to be disclosed up front.
As Kim is making a commission she needs to disclose her interest and further state that she is not giving financial or investing advice.
Finally (and most importantly) bc of Kim’s status and reach (330M followers on insta alone), she has the possibility to do a lot of harm and to some extent act as a ‘market maker’. The latter point is impt bc her influence is huge at a time when Crypto was going into free-fall and people were getting their fingers burned. I think she got off lightly.
Thank you so much, everyone!
One of the things that CONTINOUSLY amazes me about the Khardashians is HOW they are able to LIVE LIKE THAT …when the BULK of their $$$ comes from branding deals….because it’s a sham…an MAGNIFICENT ELABORATE sham …but a SHAM none the less…
Regulatory agencies around the world are coming for crypto & I am here for it. A lot of Silicon Valley bros with dirty cash figured they could “move fast & break things” like they’ve done for years. That worked for a new, unregulated space like the internet but not for financial instruments which are heavily regulated (with good reason).
Ironically, these same bros are going to find that mucking around online to break democracy for fun & profit will also have consequences.
A little old for still doing duck-lips but whatever …
She got paid 250k to promote this. How much money does this family actually have? Maybe they aren’t nearly as rich as they pretend to be.
Yes so much of their reported wealth is made up by pimp mama K.
Just like Kim reportedly sold their emojis for $40 or $20 million. The reality is that the partner on the project ( who did all the work ) got more than half. The rest was split between Kim, PMK, and 1 or 2 of the older sisters, but course that’s not was reported. PMK brought and paid for Times riches list, Vogue magazine most sold even though no exact number was ever reported, the list goes on and on.
I’ve been side-eyeing her giveaway posts that both she and Scott do with the designer bags and cash. Some of that stuff just looks so shady and dumb, you’d think she’d learn to stay away from it!
So… when are they coming for the men?