The headlines for a case against Steven Seagal just write themselves. We was charged by the SEC for violating the anti-touting provisions of the securities laws for putting his celebrity girth behind Bitcoiin2Gen, in an initial coin offering.
The coin launched at about $0.60 in February 2019 and is not just about worthless. As near as I can tell, the selling point of this coin to BitCoin is that it has an extra “i.”
I have some sympathy for Mr. Seagal. He may have thought he was merely hawking some scam coin and not realized he was touting a security. Of course that’s the big problem with coin offerings. Promoters claim they are not securities, but the SEC thinks they are.
The SEC points out that the Bitcoiin offering was was well after the SEC’s DAO report that warned companies about the intersection of ICOs and securities laws. Just because you say it’s not a security over and over again, it does not make it true.
Mr. Seagal was to be paid $250,000 in cash and $750,000 in the Bitcoiins. Although, according to the SEC order, he only ended up with $157,000 in his pocket. That must be a nice supplement to his unpaid position as a special Russian representative to promote humanitarian ties between Russia and the United States.
As a Buddhist, Zen teacher, and healer, Steven lives by the principles that the development of the physical self is essential to protect the spiritual man. He believes that what he does in his life is about leading people into contemplation to wake them up and enlighten them in some manner. These are precisely the objectives of the Bitcoiin2Gen to empower the community by providing a decentralized P2P payment system with its own wallet, mining ecosystem and robust blockchain platform without the need of any third party.
https://bitcoiin2gen.pr.co/163919-zen-master-steven-seagal-has-become-the-brand-ambassador-of-bitcoiin2gen?reheat_cache=1
Mr. Seagal was not the first celebrity to get tagged by the SEC for promoting coin offerings. Professional boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. and music producer DJ Khaled disgorged their promoter fees and paid penalties in November 2018.
Mr. Seagal accepted the order without admitting or denying the charges. That give the SEC the right to play the Nico Toscani quote: “You guys think you’re above the law. Well, you ain’t above mine.”
Sources:
- Actor Steven Seagal Charged With Unlawfully Touting Digital Asset Offering
- SEC Order
- Steven Seagal to Pay Over $330,000 to the SEC for Promoting Bitcoiin. Yes, Bitcoiin
- SEC’s DAO report
- Bitcoiin’s response to the New Jersey Bureau of Securities’s latest order of Cease and Desist
- Bitcoiin’s response to the Tennessee Dept. of Commerce & Insurance Securities Division’s “Alert” about Bitcoiin
- Steven Seagal Endorses Shady ICO for ‘Bitcoiin’ Because We Live in Hellworld [Updated]
- Steven Seagal Appointed by Russia as Special Envoy to the U.S.