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Steven Seagal ‘Under Siege’ Over Bitcoiin2Gen ICO Debacle
By Shane Addinall Mar 06, 2020 OpinionSteven Seagal hit with more than $314,000 in fines and penalties by the SEC over securities touting violations. However, looking at the last few years of accusations and political missteps this is not the worst storm Seagal has had to weather.The once applauded Hollywood action star, Steven Seagal, has found himself at loose ends in recent years with legal cases and outrageous rumours stalking him far more voraciously than the paparazzi.
The Buddhist, zen master and self-proclaimed reincarnation of a 17th Tibetan monk has needed to rely heavily on the goodwill of the universe as he came under fire for several alleged charges of sexual harassment by such well-known names as Portia de Rossi, Jenny McCarthy and Julianna Margulies, with Regina Simons, extra from the 1994 film On Deadly Ground, filing a charge of rape.
To add to his failing reputation in the USA Seagal is also known to be a Russian sympathiser who not only received dual Russian citizenship from Vladimir Putin (who Segal claims is one of the greatest leaders of our time) but was also extended the honour of being Russia’s special envoy to improve Russian-American relations.
And Then Came The ICO
Just when Seagal must have believed his troubles were behind him the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged the ageing-actor with unlawful token-touting. It has come to light that while Segal was announced as the ambassador to Bitcoiin2Gen for spiritual and moral reasons, and had then used his social media presence to encourage his followers to join him in getting in on the ground floor of this new ICO, he never once disclosed that this was actually a paid gig.
Kristina Littman, SEC Enforcement Division’s Cyber Unit, said:
"Celebrities are not allowed to use their social media influence to tout securities without appropriately disclosing their compensation. These investors were entitled to know about payments Seagal received or was promised to endorse this investment so they could decide whether he may be biased.”
The SEC investigation uncovered the fact that Seagal was paid $250,000 in cash for his role in promoting the ICO and an additional $750,000 in Bitcoiin2Gen (B2G) coinage.
Profit Or Loss?
The rules around promoting any securities-related products are simple. If you do you are required to disclose the following:
- The nature of your relationship to the securities in questions
- The scope of your role within the organisation
- The full amount of compensation you receive for this role
Given that Seagal failed in all three areas, and with his own social feeds as proof against him, the SEC filed charges and ultimately negotiated a settlement deal with the actor.
Segal has been allowed to not admit fault but has agreed to more than $314,000 in fines and penalties plus he has been banned from any form of securities promotion for no less than 3 years.
While Seagal’s penalties are more than his initial cash payment he is not necessarily running at a loss on the deal as March 2020 has seen a marked bump in B2G trading. Depending on how much B2G coinage he received in lieu of his $750,000 bonus he could still walk away having made a profit - perhaps in the world of cryptocurrency any news is still good news?
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