Kim Kardashian has been forced to cough up £1.12million after unlawfully promoting cryptocurrency on Instagram.
In June last year, the reality star took to the photo-sharing site – where she has racked up 331 million followers over the past decade – to advertise EthereumMax.
‘Are you guys into crypto?’ Kim asked her fans via Instagram Stories, ‘This is not financial advice but sharing what my friends just told me about the Ethereum Max Token! A few minutes ago Ethereum Max burned 400 Trillion Tokens - literally 50% of their admin wallet giving back to the entire E-Max community.’
Indicating that it was a paid post, the 41-year-old billionaire included the hashtag #AD, per the Advertising Standards Authority’s guidelines which state, ‘Consumers should be able to recognise that something is an ad, without having to click or otherwise interact with it.’
Despite Kim including the required hashtag, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged her with the hefty bill owing to the fact she failed to disclose that she had received $250,000 for touting the cryptocurrency.
Her lawyer told BBC News that Kim is 'pleased' to have resolved the matter and has 'fully cooperated' with the SEC from the very beginning.
They added: ‘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.’
On top of the charge, the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star must turn down crypto-promoting jobs for three years.
In a statement released on Monday, SEC Chair Gary Gensler said, ‘Ms. Kardashian’s case also serves as a reminder to celebrities and others that the law requires them to disclose to the public when and how much they are paid to promote investing in securities. The federal securities laws are clear that any celebrity or other individual who promotes a crypto asset security must disclose the nature, source, and amount of compensation they received in exchange for the promotion.'
The SEC has also released a video warning the public to refrain from investing in something purely because a celebrity has promoted it.
Other celebrities fined for such activity include Floyd Mayweather Jr., DJ Khaled, and Steven Segal.