The US rapper T.I. has to answer to the SEC for fraudulent conduct in connection with two ICOs. Clifford Harris Jr. – as T.I.’s civil name is called – is accused of having advertised for the crypto currencies FLiK and the trading platform CoinSpark with false information.
- Rapper T.I. has to pay a 75,000 US Dollar fine
- FLiK and CoinsSpark founder Ryan Felton allegedly embezzled several million dollars
- T.I. does not admit to the accusations
SEC asks T.I. to pay
The Atlanta-born US rapper Clifford Harris Jr., better known as T.I., has been ordered to pay by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
As the SEC announced via press release, the musician now has to pay 75,000 US dollars due to misconduct in dealing with the distribution of crypto currency. In addition, he will be prohibited from participating in Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) for the next five years. To this result it came by an out of court agreement between the Rapper and the SEC.
Felton embezzles debt capital
The accusations against Harris Jr. relate to fraudulent advertising of the unregistered crypto currency FLiK. In 2017, the rapper promoted the ICO through social media, falsely claiming that he was a co-owner of ‘Netflix on the Blockchain’.
The ICO was supposed to financially support the streaming platform, which, according to its own statements, supports emerging artists. In addition, it should be possible to pay with the FLiK token on the website.
With another ICO, the trading platform for crypto currency, CoinSpark, was to be externally financed. However, according to the SEC, the capital was embezzled by the film producer and founder of FLiK and CoinSpark Ryan Felton in both cases.
Felton defends himself in court against the accusations
Felton is accused of “secretly transferring FLiK tokens to his own account and selling them on the market, which is said to have generated a profit of $2.2 million. In addition, he was involved in market manipulations that inflated the price of SPARK Tokens,” the SEC stated in the press release.
Felton is said to have used the unlawfully collected money to buy a house, a Ferrari and jewelry.
In addition to Felton and T.I., his Social Media Manager William Sparks, as well as Owen Smith and Chance White are also responsible. Whereby Sparks, Owen and Smith have already reached an agreement with the SEC. Felton, on the other hand, faces an indictment which will be settled in court.
In the course of the settlement between T.I. and the SEC, the rapper neither pleaded guilty nor denied the accusations. While T.I. accepted the $75,000 fine, Sparks, Smith and White agreed with the SEC on $25,000.
