Judge Fitzgerald rejects arguments from attorneys for Kim Kardashian and Paul Pierce to dismiss the EMAX class-action lawsuit.
A California judge has ruled that reality TV star and businesswoman Kim Kardashian posted false information on social media while promoting Ethereum Max (Emax). The ruling allows the plaintiffs to pursue the case against media personalities, retired boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. and NBA Hall of Famer Paul Pierce. the kardashian’s lawyers had moved to dismiss The suit claimed that there was no evidence that investors had purchased EMAX tokens based on her Instagram posts.
Los Angeles District Judge Michael Fitzgerald rejected lawyers’ pleas to dismiss the case because Kardashian’s online posts contained “literally false” information. Judge Fitzgerald also noted that one such post contained misleading information that suggested EMAX tokens were scarce.
The judge also rejected similar arguments brought by Pierce’s legal team. However, Mayweather saw some respite as the ruling simply expressed its confidence in the boxer’s EMAX promotion. The judge also said that Mayweather’s statements were “quintessential non-actionable quandary”.
Investors accused the retired boxer of promoting the EMAX token at a bitcoin conference in 2021. Although it was a bitcoin event, Mayweather and his teammates arrived at the venue wearing EMAX T-shirts.
kim kardashian and mayweather emax case
In January last year investors sued on Kardashian, Pierce and Mayweather for their participation in the promotion for EMAX. According to the class-action suit, the named celebrities promoted EMAX and influenced fans and followers to purchase tokens.
Investors believe that Kim Kardashian and other celebrities worked with EMAX to artificially inflate property prices. They were able to do this by knowingly posting “false or misleading statements”.
Between June 2021 and January 2022, EMAX fell by almost 97%. This angered the investors who brought the class-action suit because they all believed it was a pump-and-dump scheme. The suit also claimed that the branding as “EthereumMax” was intentionally misleading as the project has no ties to Ethereum.
At the time, a spokesperson for EthereumMax denied the pump-and-dump claim. in one Email details to Rollingstone, the spokesperson added that the project is one of the “most transparent and interactive” in the crypto space. The person said they were “waiting for the truth to emerge.”
December’s Tentative Ruling
Fitzgerald issued a provisional judgment in December in favor of Kim Kardashian, Mayweather and Imax. In ruling, Fitzgerald acknowledged that the case brings up concerns about celebrities influencing “millions of unsuspecting followers to buy snake oil with unprecedented ease and access”. However, he temporarily rejected the offer. According to him, the facts presented by the plaintiff were insufficient. Furthermore, Fitzgerald said investors should do the necessary due diligence before dumping money into a project, regardless of an advertiser’s misconduct. The recent rejection of the motion to dismiss the case is a change from provisional rulings.
UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) did it in 2021 criticized Kardashian’s post. He was also fined by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (seconds) failing to appear the post was a paid advertisement. Kim Kardashian reportedly settled the matter by paying a fine of $1.26 million.
Tolu is a cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast based in Lagos. He likes to strip crypto stories down to the basics so that anyone anywhere can understand without a lot of background knowledge. When he is not delving deep into crypto stories, Tolu enjoys music, loves to sing and is an avid movie lover.
Bitcoin Crypto Related Post