Reality TV star Kim Kardashian, boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. and former NBA star Paul Pierce are facing a lawsuit alleging they misled investors when promoting sh*tcoin EthereumMax in 2021.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the lawsuit, which was filed last week in a Los Angeles federal court, claims the celebs spruiked EthereumMAX (EMAX) in order to boost its price quickly so they could make a swift profit and exit.

What’s being alleged is a tactic commonly known as a “pump and dump”, which leaves investors and followers high and dry, essentially lumped with a worthless crypto.

The lawsuit accuses the stars of misleading their followers by convincing them to buy EMAX tokens, only to then sell the tokens once their value was inflated. The celebs were allegedly paid in EMAX tokens for sponsorships and exited with substantial gains, dumping on unsuspecting investors.

The EMAX historical price chart tells its own pretty clear story…

Source: CoinGecko

 

Back in early June,  Kardashian promoted EthereumMax to her 250 million followers on Instagram with this message:

Not long after this post from Kardashian, along with a separate Twitter mention, the EMAX price mooned by more than 1,300%. About a month later it had dropped nearly 98% from there.

“This meteoric rise did not last long, and EthereumMax began to deflate immediately after Defendant Kardashian’s post,” the official complaint reads. “On July 15, the  price of the EMAX Token hit its all-time low: $0.000000017 per unit, a 98% drop from which it has not been able to recover.”

Meanwhile, Mayweather Jr. wore boxing shorts featuring an ad for EthereumMax during his exhibition match with Logan Paul in June. (Paul, incidentally was accused of shilling another absolutely worthless crypto called Dink Doink to his 23 million followers last year, but that’s another story.)

And a month before that, in May 2021, former Boston Celtics star Pierce promoted the tokens in the wake of a spat with his former employer ESPN.

The complaint also names executives at EthereumMax and, according to the Hollywood Reporter, “alleges violations of state consumer protection laws, common law over aiding and abetting, and unjust enrichment. It seeks to represent investors who purchased EthereumMax tokens between May 14 and June 27.”

Kardashian, Mayweather and Pierce are reportedly yet to comment publicly on the allegations.

 

Fair warning over celeb crypto endorsements

In September last year, a prominent UK regulator, the Chair of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Charles Randell, issued a warning about the risks associated with buying crypto assets promoted by celebrity social media influencers.

Citing the Kardashian EMAX example, Randell commented:

“Of course, I can’t say whether this particular token is a scam. But social media influencers are routinely paid by scammers to help them pump and dump new tokens on the back of pure speculation. Some influencers promote coins that turn out simply not to exist at all.”

Moral of the story? Do. Your. Own. Research!

 

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