Kim Kardashian, Floyd Mayweather Jr., others sued over cryptocurrency promotion

livemint.com:

Kim Kardashian, Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Paul Pierce are among a number of celebrities being sued for allegedly leading investors into a cryptocurrency “pump and dump" scam.

The celebrities and other defendants are accused of making “false or misleading statements to investors about EthereumMax through social media advertisements and other promotional activities," according to the class-action complaint filed last Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. In addition to the three celebrities, defendants include the co-founders of the company and others.

The lawsuit alleges EthereumMax is a “speculative digital token created by a mysterious group of cryptocurrency developers." It says the celebrities told their millions of social-media followers to buy the cryptocurrency, only to sell when the price was inflated.

Ryan Huegerich, a New York resident, filed the complaint on behalf of himself and others who purchased EMAX tokens between May 14, 2021, and June 27, 2021, and lost money, according to the filing.

EthereumMax disputed the allegations. “The deceptive narrative associated with the recent allegations is riddled with misinformation," a company spokesman said.

Representatives for Ms. Kardashian and Messrs. Mayweather and Pierce didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Mayweather promoted EthereumMax in 2021 when he was in a boxing match with YouTube celebrity Logan Paul. Former NBA player and sports commentator Paul Pierce promoted EthereumMax on his Twitter account during an unrelated conflict he was having with ESPN at the time.

“.@espn I don’t need you. I got @ethereum_max I made more money with this crypto in the past month then [sic] I did with y’all in a year,"