Floyd Mayweather and Kim Kardashian are being sued for allegedly misleading investors by promoting cryptocurrency tokens in a ‘pump and dump’ scam.
According to a lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles federal court on January 7, the reality star and the boxer are alleged to have touted tokens sold by EtheruemMax (known as EMAX) in order to raise the prices.
Mayweather had the EMAX logo on his shorts for the Paul fightSean Michael Ham/Mayweather Promotions
Former NBA player Paul Pierce is also caught up in the allegations, with claims suggesting the parties involved made a profit ‘at the expense of their followers and investors’.
The value of the cryptocurrency plummeted in July, mere weeks after Kardashian and Mayweather promoted the brand on their respective social media pages.
In fact, ‘Money’ even wore branding for the currency on his shorts during his exhibition bout with Logan Paul in Miami back in June, with up to 650,000 fans buying the pay-per-view in the States alone.
The suit was filed by a New York resident who bought EMAX tokens and lost money – and is proposed as a class-action lawsuit, open to anyone who allegedly lost out after purchasing the tokens from mid-May to late June 2021.
‘Money’ went the distance with the YouTube star in JuneAmanda Westcott/Showtime
The complaint claims: “The company’s executives, collaborating with several celebrity promoters … made false or misleading statements about EthereumMax through social media advertisements and other promotional activities.”
It adds: “The Promoter Defendants’ improper promotional activities generated the trading volume needed for all the Defendants to offload their EMAX Tokens onto unsuspecting investors.
“While Plaintiff and Class members were buying the inappropriately promoted EMAX Tokens, Defendants were able to, and did, sell their EMAX Tokens during the Relevant Period for substantial profits.”
To make matters worse for Mayweather, Paul claims he has not yet been paid from their exhibition bout, despite reportedly being guaranteed to earn $250,000 (£185,598.75) plus 10 per cent of all PPV sales, which would equate to approximately a further $5,000,000 (£3,711,975).
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