Kimberly Noel Kardashian, better known as Kim Kardashian, has been fined $1.26 million for sharing a cryptocurrency advertisement on her Instagram page without disclosing how much she was paid for the promotion.
The SEC charged the SKIMS founder in court after she promoted a cryptocurrency asset, EthereumMax, on her social media platform, according to ABC.
Kim is one of several celebrities named in a class-action lawsuit filed last January in a U.S. District Court in California on behalf of investors who claim they lost money after the celebrities promoted cryptocurrency.
In their lawsuit, the disgruntled plaintiffs claimed that they invested in the cryptocurrency after seeing “numerous celebrity endorsements of EMAX.”
Kardashian failed to disclose that she was paid $250,000 to write a blog post about EMAX tokens, a cryptocurrency asset security offered by EthereumMax, according to the SEC.
While the case is still being heard, Kardashian has agreed to pay a $1.26 million settlement.
Kim’s settlement includes the payment she received for promoting the cryptocurrency, as well as a $1 million fine, according to the commission’s announcement on Monday.
Furthermore, for the next three years, the business tycoon has agreed not to promote any crypto asset securities.
Kim chose to settle to avoid a “protracted dispute,” according to Kim’s lawyer.
Part of the press release stated,
Ms. Kardashian is pleased to have resolved this matter with the SEC. Kardashian fully cooperated with the SEC from the very beginning and she remains willing to do whatever she can to assist the SEC in this matter.
She wanted to get this matter behind her to avoid a protracted dispute. The agreement she reached with the SEC allows her to do that so that she can move forward with her many different business pursuits.