TL;DR Breakdown
- US rapper faces $12m charges for promoting illegal ICO
- Why rapper was charged
Gangster rapper Jayceon Terrell Taylor, popularly called The Game, has landed in trouble for allegedly promoting an unregistered Initial Coin Offering in 2017.
The music star faces a charge to the tune of $12m alongside executives of the firm whose illegal ICO he allegedly promoted that year.
Unfortunately for The Game, his crimes were not tried in court until a recently amended official filing that the court had incriminating evidence against him.
The Game, Paragon coin back and forth
From not being a part of the trial initially to the rapper’s inclusion into the lawsuit, the turn of events has been a little dice for the rapper.
The entire scenario began to play out when Paragon hit the world with promises to use crypto and blockchain to make the cannabis industry a mainstream one. They co-opted The Game to help them promote the PRG Token on his personal social media pages.
One of his promotional posts had him standing with Paragon’s CEO and former model, Jessica Versteeg, in a tweet where he said, “preparing to revolutionize cannabis and the world.”
The project was a successful one as over $70m was raised in months back in 2017.
A twist in the success story
Less than a year after the entire promotion and funds gathering, a firm that invested in the PRG Token, Astely Davy, filed a lawsuit against Paragon for conducting an unregistered securities sale.
They demanded that the firm refund investors (those involved in the ICO), stating clearly that Paragon was not registered with the US Security and Exchange Commission.
The regulators quickly jumped in, urging the firm to refund all investors their funds as the entire project was not in line with security laws in the US.
The Game was not involved at this point yet until an amended lawsuit came by Federal District Judge Jeffrey S. White.
According to the Judge, the rapper had “acted for his own gain or Paragon’s gain” and, therefore, will now be considered a member of the project.
