Lindsay Lohan & Jake Paul Among Celebrities Charged In Misleading Crypto Endorsement Scheme

Lindsay Lohan was on a list of eight celebrities who were charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission for endorsing cryptocurrencies associated with crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun and his businesses BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., Tron Foundation Limited and Rainberry Inc.

Also included in the charges were Youtuber and influencer Jake Paul, artists Soulja Boy, Ne-Yo, Akon, Austin Mahone, Lil Yachty and adult film star Kendra Lust.

According to reports, the stars in question were charged for publicly endorsing the cryptocurrencies without first "disclosing that they were compensated for doing so and the amount of their compensation."

"As alleged in the complaint, Sun and others used an age-old playbook to mislead and harm investors by first offering securities without complying with registration and disclosure requirements and then manipulating the market for those very securities," SEC Division of Enforcement director Gurbir S. Grewal explained in a recent statement.

"At the same time, Sun paid celebrities with millions of social media followers to tout the unregistered offerings, while specifically directing that they not disclose their compensation," Grewal continued. "This is the very conduct that the federal securities laws were designed to protect against regardless of the labels Sun and others used."

Since the group was hit with the charges, six out of eight of the celebrities involved chose to pay a pricey fine of over $400,000. However, the payment will not serve as an either an admission or denial of fault in the case.

It is unclear what the next steps will be for Soulja Boy and Mahone, who elected not to pay the penalty.

This legal bump in the road comes in the midst of minor career drama for the Falling For Christmas actress, as Lohan — alongside former costars Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried and Lacey Chabert — rejected Paramount's "disrespectful" offer to come back for a new Mean Girls flick.

"Paramount Pictures doesn’t want to pay the girls what they are worth," a source spilled earlier this month. "All four girls were willing to come back, but Paramount has not been respectful of what they are worth."

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The Hollywood Reporter revealed the news of the charges.