Hollywood actor, Steven Seagal, settles deceptive Bitcoiin cryptocurrency promotion charges

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday that it had settled previously undisclosed charges against faded action movie actor Steven Seagal for failing to disclose that he was being paid as he promoted a cryptocurrency investment.

In an emailed order by the SEC, the Commission said Steven Seagal, who has agreed to pay $314,000 in disgorgement and penalties, violated anti-touting provisions of federal securities laws during the very brief amount of time he spent as “brand ambassador” for the “Bitcoiin.”

The SEC said that Seagal, a 67-year-old martial arts expert, “failed to disclose he was promised $250,000 in cash and $750,000 worth of B2G tokens in exchange for his promotions” for an initial coin offering conducted by Bitcoiin2Gen, a cryptocurrency system.

Those promotions included public social media account posts that urged people not to “miss out” on Bitcoiin2Gen’s initial coin offering and “a press release titled ‘Zen Master Steven Seagal Has Become the Brand Ambassador of Bitcoiin2Gen,’” the SEC said.

That Feb. 13, 2018, press release said that, “The inspiration of Bitcoiin2Gen is to make a superior or more advanced version of Original Bitcoin.”

The SEC said, “These promotions came six months after the SEC’s 2017 DAO Report warning that coins sold in ICOs may be securities.”

The agency also noted that under anti-touting provisions of federal securities laws, “any celebrity or other individual who promotes a virtual token or coin that is a security must disclose the nature, scope, and amount of compensation received in exchange for the promotion.”

A lawyer for Seagal did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Seagal’s stint as a promoter for Bitcoiin2Gen was short-lived.

On March 7, 2018, the New Jersey Bureau of Securities issued a cease-and-desist order against BitCoiin2Gen, which said the firm is “fraudulently offering unregistered securities in violation of the Securities Law.”

That order noted that Bitcoiin2Gen’s press release about Seagal did not disclose the nature, scope or amount of compensation paid to Seagal for his promotion of the investment.

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