Steven Seagal advertised a fraudulent cryptostartup and fled to Moscow, refusing to pay a $255,000 fine

Actor Steven Seagal has fled to Moscow after refusing to pay the entire fine for advertising cryptocurrency startup Bitcoiin2Gen.

What happened?

In 2018, Steven Seagal became an ambassador for the startup Bitcoiin2Gen (the two "i's" in the name are no mistake). The actor actively promoted the ICO campaign on his social networks. This helped the startup raise $75 million. But it didn't take long for the music to play.

In the spring of 2018, the New Jersey Securities Bureau halted the initial coin offering to protect investors from fraud. Two years later, Steven Segal was fined $314,000 by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The reason was the concealment of revenue generated by advertising the ICO campaign.

The Hollywood actor was banned from participating in the advertising of stocks and securities for three years. Segal agreed to pay a fine of $330,000. However, only the first payment of $75,000 was made on time.

After delaying the rest of the payments ($255,000), Steven Seagal fled to Moscow. He obtained Russian Federation citizenship in 2016. The SEC secured permission in court to collect the fines and interest through the actor's representative.

Source: Bloomberg