Last year, an obscured crypto project called Ethereum Max (EMAX) gained a lot of attention. The project was promoted by influencer Kim Kardashian and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather.
Ethereum Max turned out to be the centerpiece for a worldwide pump-and-dumb scheme. These scams used the influence of socialites and other celebrities to increase the price of the token while the founders take the money and run leaving people holding a worthless token.
Kim Kardashian and other influencers are facing a class action lawsuit in the United States for their alleged participation in this scheme. The plaintiffs filed their lawsuit in January 2022, and the influencer’s legal teams have been trying to get the court to dismiss the complaint.
According to a report from the International Business Times (IBT), Kardashian’s legal representation filed a motion to dismiss the action. The document claims that the plaintiffs made “misleading” accusations about Kim’s role in the Ethereum Max pump-and-dumb scheme.
The motion was presented in California on July 29, according to the IBT report. Therein, Kim Kardashian’s legal team argued that the 10 claims from the plaintiff are “baseless”. A legal representative for Kim Kardashian said:
Crucially, no named plaintiff alleges that they in fact viewed either Instagram post before purchasing tokens during the relevant time period.
As Bitcoinist reported in 2021, the influencer posted a story on her Instagram account asking her fans if they were “into crypto”. At that time, Kardashian clarified that her followers should not consider her stories as financial advice, but she invited people to join the E-Max Community.
Kardashian has over 220 million followers on this social network. Thus, why many of her followers questioned the legitimacy of the project and her claims.
Ethereum Max was using the logo of Ethereum, the second cryptocurrency by market capitalization, and part of its name in a potential attempt to attract new investors.
Furthermore, Kardashian’s legal representation claims she never receives compensation, in the form of EMAX tokens, for the Instagram story talking about Ethereum Max. In fact, the document claims that the influencer didn’t receive financial compensation for her post. The motion reads the following:
The Court should dismiss all claims against Ms. Kardashian (…) a celebrated businesswoman, media personality, and social justice activist (…).
Data from Coingecko shows that the token saw significant appreciation at the time of Kardashian’s post, May 2021. Since that time, the token has seen massive selling pressure and has lost almost all of its value.
However, the Court is yet to issue a decision on the motion and on Kardashian’s alleged participation in the promotion of Ethereum Max.
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