Former NBA champion Paul Pierce has agreed to pay over $1.4 million in penalties after unlawfully selling the EthereumMax (EMAX) cryptocurrency to his Twitter viewers. In an announcement printed on Friday, the US Securities and Change Fee introduced costs towards the previous Boston Celtics participant — nicknamed ‘The Fact’ — for making “false and deceptive” statements about EMAX and failing to reveal that he was paid greater than $244,000 value of EMAX tokens to promote the cryptocurrency to his social media following.

In a single instance of his illicit exercise, the fee claims that Pierce tweeted a deceptive screenshot of an account displaying vital EMAX holdings and income with out disclosing that the picture didn’t characterize his personal private holdings. Pierce agreed to pay the settlement “with out admitting or denying the SEC’s findings,” in keeping with the SEC fee, and has moreover agreed to not promote any crypto property for 3 years.

“This case is yet one more reminder to celebrities: The legislation requires you to open up to the general public from whom and the way a lot you might be getting paid to advertise funding in securities, and you may’t deceive traders while you tout a safety,” stated SEC Chair Gary Gensler. “When celebrities endorse funding alternatives, together with crypto asset securities, traders ought to be cautious to analysis if the investments are proper for them, and they need to know why celebrities are making these endorsements.”