A lawsuit has been filed against American reality TV star Kim Kardashian and boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr for allegedly misleading investors about a cryptocurrency token.
The celebrities have been accused of advertising tokens of EthereumMax, or EMAX, to profit themselves at cost of their followers and investors, according to news agency Reuters.
The lawsuit, filed in a Los Angeles federal court on January 7, alleged: "The company's [EMAX] executives, collaborating with several celebrity promoters ... made false or misleading statements about EthereumMax through social media advertisements and other promotional activities.”
The suit was filed by resident of New York who lost money after buying EMAX tokens.
Kardashian, who has 278 million followers on Instagram, had promoted the token on her handle in June last year.
"This is not financial advice but sharing what my friends just told me about the EthereumMax tokens,” Kardashian wrote with a hashtag indicating that her post was a paid advertisement. “A few minutes ago, Ethereum Max burnt 400 trillion tokens literally 50% of their admin wallet giving back to the entire E-Max community.”
Meanwhile, Mayweather promoted the cryptocurrency token during exhibition boxing match in June last year.
Cryptocurrency, a tradable digital asset, is highly volatile and the need to regulate it has been discussed often. In India, cryptocurrency regulations have not been finalised yet.
In November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had held a meeting on cryptocurrency with stakeholders. Sources said after the meeting that the government felt “over-promising and non-transparent” advertisements on cryptocurrency must be stopped.
Several Indian celebrities, including Amitabh Bachchan, Ranveer Singh and Salman
Read more on moneycontrol.com