An LA judge has refused to throw out a lawsuit accusing Kim Kardashian, Floyd Mayweather and Paul Pierce for touting now-worthless crypto tokens in a ‘pump and dump scam’.
The three celebrities have been embroiled in the suit over claims they touted tokens sold by EMAX in order to boost its price and make themselves a profit ‘at the expense of their followers and investors.’
On Tuesday, Los Angeles District Judge Michael Fitzgerald rejected arguments by Kardashian’s lawyers that he should dismiss false advertising claims against her.Kardashian is said to have shared social media posts in which she said EMAX tokens would be accepted at certain night clubs as payment for table reservations.
The judge said the investors adequately alleged the posts were ‘literally false.’ He also found a Kardashian post suggesting EMAX tokens were scarce was misleading.In his 84-page-ruling, Fitzgerald ruled that Mayweather could not be sued for stating his ‘belief’ about the growth of EMAX because it would be ‘quintessential nonactionable puffery’ and his comments had been ‘harmless’.Despite this, investors who say they paid ‘inflated prices’ for the digital asset will have a chance to revise and refile their allegations that the former boxing champ failed to disclose he was being paid to promote EMAX.
Fitzgerald noted that lawyers for the investors ‘artfully cured’ some deficiencies in their previous version of the complaint.
He warned that he’s giving them just one more opportunity to address remaining shortcomings in some claims or they will be dismissed for good.
In addition to targeting celebrity promoters, investors sued several EMAX co-founders and consultants.
The original suit was filed by a New York resident who bought EMAX tokens and lost money and was proposed as a class action lawsuit.
In June 2021, Kardashian promoted the cryptocurrency Ethereum Max on her Instagram story.
Source: dailymai
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