The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged former Celtics player Paul Pierce for making multiple federal securities law violations relating to his promotion of cryptocurrency. Pierce has agreed to settle, the commission announced on Friday, and pay a total of $1.409 million.
Specifically, the SEC found that Pierce promoted crypto asset securities (known as EMAX tokens) from EthereumMax on social media despite not publicly disclosing that he received more than $244,000 in EMAX tokens to help pitch the product on Twitter.
“The SEC’s order also finds that Pierce tweeted misleading statements related to EMAX, including tweeting a screenshot of an account showing large holdings and profits without disclosing that his own personal holdings were in fact much lower than those in the screenshot,” the commission said in the statement announcing the charges.