Ethereum Max once had a market cap of a whopping US$250M. It was supported by Kim K, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Antonio Brown, and Paul Pierce in its prime. Each celebrity was allegedly paid 6 to 7 figures to promote the now defunct cryptocurrency. Once it had its ‘rug pulled’ however, it left investors infuriated and looking for someone to place blame in various class action lawsuits. And this week, 3 of those American Icons were dismissed from any responsibility of paying investors, officially.
Fondly called ‘Money May,’ ‘The Truth,’ and ‘Kim K’ by some, the 3 entertainers promoted the Ethereum Max (EMAX) token via two different methods.
How They Promoted Ethereum Max
Paul and Kim made Instagram posts. Kim’s was a simple shill that literally said it was not financial advice. Her IG story claimed 400 Trillion EMAX tokens were being burned, according to her friends, and nothing more.
Floyd Mayweather wore an Ethereum Max t-shirt to the weigh in broadcast for the fight against Logan Paul; an event that made headlines on blogs and social media. It’s not even believed he spoke of the brand name nor shared it on his social media.
Nonetheless, people took gambles on the token simply for its facade of power and popularity. Most behind the EMAX lawsuit are believed to have even ignored early red flags on the brand, which included elusiveness of the token owner.
Judge Ordered Investors Take Self-Accountability
Once the EMAX rug pull occurred and those red flags were proven to be true, ‘gamblers’ turned furious. Lawyers were hired and people attempted to force a refund of their money from Kardashian and Mayweather. This, instead of taking full self-accountability for lack of research on what they were investing hundreds to thousands of dollars in.
The ‘investors’ claim Kim, Paul, and Floyd conspired to purposely inflate the EMAX token value. However, this was clearly untrue as they had nothing further to gain from the cryptocurrency brand after payment for promotion.
Luckily for the American icons, California Judge Michael Fitzgerald sided with them in terms of who’s responsible for the loss of the investors. The “EMax lawsuit,” as is, was found faulty.
“[The Law] also expects investors to act reasonably before basing their bets on the zeitgeist of the moment,” wrote Fitzgerald on inventors’ need for self-accountability.
The judge was not empathetic however. He added that celebs’ ability to influence millions of people to purchase ‘snake oil’ with such ease, is worrisome.
Who’s Listed in EMAX Lawsuit?
The class-action lawsuit was against the Ethereum Max co-founders, Steve Gentile and Giovanni Perone. Also Justin French, a consultant and developer of EMax, was sued in the case. And last, the celebrities.
The class action lawsuit can be resubmitted however according to Fitzgerald if claims were modified.
The exact amounts all 3 of the celebs were paid for promoting Ethereum Max is unknown. Kim Kardashian has been cited as paid US$250,000, but she’s already lost that money to the SEC. She was charged $1.26-millon for promoting the cryptocurrency brand.
This is one of many latest stories involving celebrities and cryptos. Klay Thompson and Andre Igoudala lost money on Bitcoin. Tom Brady, Steph Curry, and the Warriors are being sued by FTX investors. Michael Jordan’s NFT project, co-founded by his son, crashed in value. And Taylor Smith was a ‘rainbow’ after the storm; one celebrity who dodged Sam Bankman-Fried’s scams, as her US$100M deal fell apart before she could sign.