SEC sues crypto mogul Justin Sun and 8 celebrities

The regulator accuses the founder from Tron from violation of laws on the securities and market manipulation. Several celebritiesincluding Lindsay Lohan and Akon, are also sued for having praised theinvestment in TRX and BTT.

On Wednesday night, the U.S. securities regulator filed a complaint Against Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron blockchain, and his companies Tron Foundation and BitTorrent Foundationfor selling cryptocurrencies Tron (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT)(BTT), “securities”, to American investors, without having previously registered the offer with its services.

The Security Exchange Commission (SEC) also accuses the 32-year-old Chinese entrepreneur and his companies of ” manipulated fraudulently the secondary market from TRX through wash trading “.

“This involves the simultaneous or near-simultaneous purchase and sale of a security to make it appear actively traded without an actual change in real ownership,” the regulator says.

Also, Sun is being sued for. paid several stars in order to highlight the tokens TRX and BTT without disclosing that they were paid to do so.

At the same time, these famous celebrities are also accused of having promoted the two digital pieces on social networks.

It is about Lindsay LohanJacques Paul, DeAndre Cortez Way (Soulja Boy), Austin Mahone, Michele Mason (Kendra Lust), Miles Parks, McCollum (Lil Yachty), Shaffer Smith (Ne-Yo) and Aliaune Thiam (Akon).

Sun and his companies not only targeted U.S. investors in their unregistered offers and sales, generating millions in illegal revenue, but also coordinated sham trading on an unregistered platform to create the deceptive appearance of active trading. Sun further enticed investors to purchase TRX and BTT by orchestrating a promotional campaign in which he and his promoters concealed the fact that celebrities were paid for their tweets,” said SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.

Following the release of the complaint, the TRX coursewhose market capitalization now exceeds $5.5 billion, plummeted, losing about 7% over 24 hours. BTT was down only 2%. Note that HTthe native token ofHuobi – a Sun-affiliated exchange, slid nearly 9% in the wake of the announcement.

End of 2021, Justin Sun announced he was leaving the Tron Foundation to serve the government of Grenada as a diplomat with the World Trade Organization.

“We believe that the complaint is unfounded and, in the meantime, we will continue to build the most decentralized financial system […] We look forward to working with governments and regulators around the world who are dedicated to establishing transparent guidelines to regulate and work with the crypto-currency industry given the important role it can play. Most recently, for example, Dominica has adopted TRX and BTT as legal tender.” tweeted Tron’s founder early this morning.

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