Jake Paul fined over $400,000 by US SEC for “illegal” crypto promotion

Popular influencer Jake Paul is among a short list of celebrities that have been charged by the US Security and Exchange Commission for “illegally touting” cryptocurrency on his platform.

Over the last few years, YouTube influencers and various celebrities around the world have used their platforms to promote various cryptocurrencies.

Back in 2021, Jake Paul found himself involved in a variety of different crypto projects — often posting about his investments on Twitter. One of those projects was Tron Foundation Limited, owned and run by Justin Sun.

On March 22, 2023, The US Security and Exchange Commission issued a press release revealing charges against Sun for fraud, as well as Jake Paul and seven other celebrities for “illegally touting” tokens on their platforms.

Jake Paul charged by US SEC for “illegal” crypto promotion

In the press release, the SEC detailed their charges against Justin Sun and three of his companies: Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd, and Rainberry Inc.

They claim that the Tronix and BitTorrent tokens were offered and sold illegally and that Sun fraudulently manipulated the market to make the tokens appear as actively traded — despite no change of ownership in various sales.

Along with the charges against Justin Sun, the SEC also charged Jake Paul and seven other celebrities for “illegally touting” the two tokens.

The SEC claims that alongside the others, Jake promoted the token without disclosing that he was compensated for doing so, and left out how much he was paid. The others listed include celebrities Soulja Boy, Lil Yachty, Ne-Yo, Akon, and Lindsay Lohan.

According to the press release, Jake Paul agreed to pay more than $400,000 in disgorgement, interest, and penalties to settle the charges.

This news comes just two months after his older brother Logan Paul agreed to refund $1.3M to investors of his CryptoZoo project.