ATLANTA (CelebrityAccess) — Rapper and actor T.I. settled civil charges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over his role in helping to promote a fraudulent cryptocurrency.
The SEC found that T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, Jr., offered and sold FLiK tokens on his social media accounts, falsely claimed to be a co-owner of the currency venture, and encouraged his followers to invest in FLiK.
The sales and marketing pitch violated the Securities Act which makes it unlawful to sell unregistered securities.
For his role in the scheme, T.I. will pay a $75,000 fine and has agreed not to sell or market “similar securities” for at least five years.
Other individuals charged in the cryptocurrency scheme included film producer Ryan Felton, who the SEC alleges controlled the two companies behind the crypto token.
The SEC’s complaint alleges that Felton promised to build a digital streaming platform for FLiK, and a digital-asset trading platform for CoinSpark.
However, according to the SEC’s complaint, Felton was alleged to secretly transferred FLiK tokens to himself and sold them into the market, reaping an additional $2.2 million in profits, and that he engaged in manipulative trading to inflate the price of SPARK tokens.
Felton was alleged to have used the funds he obtained through the scheme to buy a Ferrari, a million-dollar home, diamond jewelry, and other luxury goods.
