Real name: Kimberly Noel Kardashian
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Reality-TV and social-media megastar with one of the largest audiences on Earth. In October 2022 the SEC charged Kardashian for touting EthereumMax's EMAX token on Instagram without disclosing she was paid $250,000 for the post. She settled for $1.26 million in penalties, disgorgement and interest, agreed to cooperate with the SEC's ongoing investigation, and accepted a three-year ban on promoting crypto securities. EMAX itself collapsed in value, and the case became the SEC's signature warning that celebrity crypto promos are paid ads in disguise. Listed for the undisclosed-promotion playbook: enormous trusted reach, quietly monetized, with disclosure arriving only after the regulator did.
The SEC's order found Kardashian failed to disclose a $250,000 payment for an Instagram post promoting EMAX tokens, with a link telling followers how to buy. Settlement: ~$260k disgorgement (the fee plus interest) + $1,000,000 penalty, cooperation with the investigation, and a 3-year crypto-securities promo ban. Sources: the SEC press release and mainstream coverage.
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