Steven Seagal's Unpaid Crypto Fine Under Siege By The SEC
A federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, unleashed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to collect more than $250,000 from Steven Seagal after the ’90s action star failed to pay up for his alleged role in promoting a cryptocurrency.
U.S. District Judge William Kuntz ruled Friday that the federal agency can go through the actor’s business manager to collect the remainder of the $330,000 he had agreed to pay. The “Under Siege” actor, who lives in Moscow and is a Russian citizen, last year settled allegations that he failed to disclose he was being paid to promote a digital token.
Seagal was allegedly promised $250,000 in cash and $750,000 in tokens for promoting an initial coin offering for Bitcoiin2Gen, according to the SEC. The offering was one of as many as 20 similar crypto frauds run by a group of Serbian nationals who bilked some 500 investors out of millions, prosecutors have said.
Seagal has so far paid just $75,000 and is delinquent on the rest of the settlement, according to a lawyer for the SEC, Bloomberg reported.
The devoted fan of Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin moved to Moscow in 2016. Putin then issued a presidential decree making him a Russian citizen. Since 2018, Seagal has been Russia’s goodwill ambassador to the U.S.
In 2018, the Los Angeles Police Department launched a sexual assault investigation into Seagal. More than a dozen women have accused the actor of sexual misconduct. He has denied the allegations.
There was no immediate comment from Seagal.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
