5-division former world champ and all-time boxing cash cow, Floyd Mayweather has been named along with reality TV star Kim Kardashian and former NBA star Paul Pierce in a lawsuit that alleges fraud via a “pump and dump” cryptocurrency scheme that cost investors dearly.
A class action suit filed in California on January 7 claims that executives of the cryptocurrency company EthereumMax, in association with Kardashian, Mayweather, and Pierce, sought to profit by making “false and misleading statements” about the financial viability of the company’s digital token, EMAX, via social media promotion and other promotional activities.
Mayweather, specifically, was mentioned as having promoted EthereumMax at the June, 2021 “Bitcoin 2021” cryptocurrency conference in Miami, Florida.
According to the lawsuit, EthereumMax also promoted the digital token on a website promoting the 2021 Mayweather-Logan Paul exhibition bout with offers such as “orders over $5000 will receive authentic, signed Floyd Mayweather boxing gloves” and “2 front row ringside tickets available exclusively for Ethereum Max purchase.” There was also mention of customers being entered into a lottery for access to the “official Mayweather after-party.”
Kardashian promoted the cryptocurrency on her Instagram account, which boasts around 250 million followers. Pierce, meanwhile, claimed to his 4 million followers on his verified Twitter account that he made a significant amount of money by investing in EthereumMax.
It was estimated by an expert in the field that this push was the financial promotion with the single biggest audience reach in history.
The promotional push certainly worked as the value of the EMAX tokens shot up nearly 1400% as the celebrities touted the worth of the cryptocurrency. But when the celebrity endorsement campaign ended, however, the tokens lost 99% of their value overnight and investors lost large sums of money. It is alleged that these celebrities knowingly (or perhaps unknowingly) vouched for a token whose only true value was the name value, alone.
According to the lawsuit:
“EthereumMax’s entire business model relies on using constant marketing and promotional activities, often from ‘trusted’ celebrities, to dupe potential investors into trusting the financial opportunities available with EMAX Tokens.”
“[EthereumMax’s executives] touted the prospects of the company and the ability for investors to make significant returns due to the favorable ‘tokenomics’ of the EMAX Tokens…In truth, defendants marketed the EMAX tokens to investors so that they could sell their portion of the float for a profit.”
EthereumMax denies the validity of the class action suits and counted with this statement, issued via social media:
“The deceptive narrative associated with the recent allegations is riddled with misinformation about the EthereumMax project. We dispute the allegations and look forward to the truth coming out.”
Mayweather, who will be 45 this February 24, has hinted at the possibility of a return to the ring in the near future, most likely an exhibition. Rumors have connected him to a “real” bout with 20-year-old Dubai-based YouTuber “Money Kicks,” with the venue reportedly being a helipad atop the luxury five-star hotel Burj Al Arab in Dubai.
Since his official retirement in 2017, Mayweather has had two big-money exhibition bouts– A first-round stoppage of Japanese kick boxer Tenshin Nasukawa in 2018 and an eight-round “no winner declared” contest with YouTube personality Logan Paul in 2021.
In other “Money” Mayweather-related financial news, exhibition opponent Logan Paul has claimed that Mayweather, whose promotional company handled the promotion of the Mayweather-Paul card, has yet to pay him for their June bout.
This prompted Paul, who is reportedly due in the neighborhood of $5 million, to recently take to social media and call out the retired champ:
“Pay me my Money u f*****g corny weasel of a human @floydmayweather,” Paul wrote.
Mayweather has yet to comment on either the cryptocurrency lawsuit or Paul’s claims of non-payment.
