The SEC Slapped Steven Seagal With A $300,000 Invoice For Doing Some Shady Bitcoin Promotion
No one knows where wannabe Russian oligarch/Zen master Steven Seagal went after dramatically walking out on that BCC Newsnight interview a couple of years ago after he was asked about multiple allegations of sexual assault, including a rape accusation from 1993 that was recently dismissed due to the statute of limitations. He just yanked out his earpiece and left in a huff. He might have gone to go pick up a shipment of knock-off Sharpies, called Slarpies, that he uses to draw on his hair. I bet brand-name Sharpies are expensive in Russia, where he now lives. He’s got to pinch those pennies where he can because, according to The Washington Post, the Securities and Exchange Commission just hit him with an invoice for $300,000 “to settle charges that he failed to disclose he was being paid to promote a cryptocurrency investment.” And no, they do not accept payment in Bitcoin. You would think a martial arts master of Steven’s caliber would know how to block this move. Maybe he’s not all that good at it evasive maneuvers after all.
WAPO reports:
Seagal, 67, did not tell his millions of social media followers that Bitcoiin2Gen had promised him $250,000 in cash and $750,000 worth of its tokens before promoting its initial coin offering on Twitter and Facebook, according to the SEC. Under the settlement, Seagal agreed to pay the SEC more than $330,000 in penalties and interest, including $157,000 that Bitcoiin2Gen had already paid him.
In February 2018, Seagal posted a news release on Facebook, where he has 6.7 million followers, announcing he had become the company’s “brand ambassador,” according to the SEC settlement. He also congratulated the company on Twitter, where he has more than 100,000 followers, for reaching its financial goals. “Friends, I wanted to announce that @Bitcoiin2Gen will soon be listed on some of the biggest exchanges globally,” he said in a March 2018 Twitter post. “Stay tuned for more information coming very shortly.”
Seagal failed to disclose in those posts that he was being paid by Bitcoiin2Gen, according to the SEC.
6.7 MILLION? That is hard to believe. If this is true, why haven’t I heard more about Steven’s latest movie, Beyond The Law co-starring DMX in his first performance after getting out of prison for tax evasion where, judging from the trailer, they just let him go ahead and smoke while filming because it was probably easier than arguing with him about it.
Steven may have a lot of followers but I guess followers alone weren’t keeping him in satin Mongolian deels or boxes of Just For Men (#235 Leatherback Black). So he had to get creative with with the sponcon. Steven’s attorney says he thought everything was on the up and up and that “eventually, Seagal became concerned with the ‘bona fides of the product and terminated the relationship,” but was not specific about his concerns or when exactly he gave it up.
Seagal cooperated with the investigation and has moved on, according to the statement. “He looks forward to continuing his life’s work as an actor, musician, martial artist and diplomat,” the statement said.
Now the poor guy’s been reduced to using his Slarpie stockpiles to sign autographs for his crust of bread.
Pic: Wenn.com