Justin Sun faces charges from SEC along with eight celebrities

Justin Sun sees his companies grow, but that is not going to be enough anymore. No matter how fast the regulatory framework of the SEC has come, the core focus of protecting the interest of investors is enough to charge Justin Sun for fraud and other violations. Eight celebrities have also been charged for not disclosing that they were touting TRX and BTT on social media for compensation.

The companies of Justin Sun that are now under the charge of the SEC are BitTorrent Foundation, Tron Foundation Limited, and Rainberry Inc. The companies are charged with circulating unregistered offers and selling TRX and BTT to investors. Moreover, the SEC has charged Justin Sun for manipulating the secondary market to show a brighter picture for TRX.

Celebrities who did not disclose that they were being compensated for showing off the said digital assets are:

  • Jake Paul
  • Lindsay Lohan
  • Austin Mahone
  • Soulja Boy
  • Kendra Lust
  • Ne-Yo
  • Lil Yachty
  • Akon

Companies run by Justin Sun are charged with offering investments through bounty programs that were never registered in the market. BitTorrent and Rainberry are charged for leading unregistered monthly airdrops of BTT. According to the announcement made by the SEC, all the unregistered offers and sales rolled out by Justin Sun and his companies have violated Section 5 of the Securities Act.

Manipulation comes into the picture for a period starting in April 2018 and ending in February 2019, wherein Sun is alleged to have directed his employees to engage in wash trading between the accounts of two platforms that are owned by him. Sun also allegedly provided the employees with a sufficient supply of the token to carry out wash trading.

Gurbir S. Grewal, the Director of the Division of Enforcement at the SEC, has clarified that they are neutral about the technology, but they have a rather one-sided stand to protect the interest of the investors.

The consequence can be seen in TRX losing value while exchanging hands. Per the data on Crypto.com at the time of drafting this article, the token has lost 6.82% in the last 24 hours. TRX has slipped to the mark of $0.06269. The lowest that it has gone to is the value of $0.05775. Fluctuations are volatile, but there is no upward trend within the eyesight. Now, the question is, “Will TRON rise again?” Traders should explore price projections to know more about the future of TRON.

Justin Sun has taken to Twitter to talk about the charges put up by the SEC. Sun has called the complaint an example of taking action against well-known players by saying that it lacks merit. Sun has highlighted that the regulatory framework is still in its infancy and needs time to develop.

There is little talk about touching on the cases against celebrities; however, he has informed everyone that the team will continue building a decentralized financial system.

A recent achievement for TRX and BTT came when Dominica adopted the tokens as legal tender. Needless to say, that is less likely to work in its favor while talking to the SEC, with the Commission clearly making its stand firm in protecting investors.

Roxanne Williams

Roxanne Williams has recently joined as a market reporter for CryptoNewsZ - the 24/7 crypto news site, where she produces recent stories, technical analysis and price updates on world's leading cryptocurrencies.

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