<story><title>SEC charges crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun and his companies for fraud</title><url>https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-59</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>hn_throwaway_99</author><text>And a perfect snapshot for what a steaming pile of BS all this crypto-hucksterism was in the first place.&lt;p&gt;I admit, I don&amp;#x27;t understand humans. I&amp;#x27;m just trying to comprehend how anyone would think it a good idea to buy a token because any one of these celebrities hawked it.</text></item><item><author>ljhsiung</author><text>&amp;gt;&amp;gt; The SEC simultaneously charged the following eight celebrities for illegally touting TRX and&amp;#x2F;or BTT without disclosing that they were compensated for doing so and the amount of their compensation.&lt;p&gt;•             Lindsay Lohan&lt;p&gt;•             Jake Paul&lt;p&gt;•             DeAndre Cortez Way (Soulja Boy)&lt;p&gt;•             Austin Mahone&lt;p&gt;•             Michele Mason (Kendra Lust)&lt;p&gt;•             Miles Parks McCollum (Lil Yachty)&lt;p&gt;•             Shaffer Smith (Ne-Yo)&lt;p&gt;•             Aliaune Thiam (Akon)&lt;p&gt;I had to doubletake. Never did I ever think I&amp;#x27;d see this permutation of celebrities in an SEC report.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>zopa</author><text>If someone got into wine or baseball cards because their boss liked them, we might call it a smart career move. But much of the time the underlying psychology will be exactly the same. And in fact it will likely work better if it’s not done rationally: anyone who becomes too conscious of what their motivation might be risks coming off as insincere.&lt;p&gt;Wanting to connect with important members and of your community it a perfectly normal human impulse, and finding or creating things the two of you have in common is often a very reasonable strategy towards that end. It goes badly at the scale of modern celebrity, is all.</text></comment>
<story><title>SEC charges crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun and his companies for fraud</title><url>https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-59</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>hn_throwaway_99</author><text>And a perfect snapshot for what a steaming pile of BS all this crypto-hucksterism was in the first place.&lt;p&gt;I admit, I don&amp;#x27;t understand humans. I&amp;#x27;m just trying to comprehend how anyone would think it a good idea to buy a token because any one of these celebrities hawked it.</text></item><item><author>ljhsiung</author><text>&amp;gt;&amp;gt; The SEC simultaneously charged the following eight celebrities for illegally touting TRX and&amp;#x2F;or BTT without disclosing that they were compensated for doing so and the amount of their compensation.&lt;p&gt;•             Lindsay Lohan&lt;p&gt;•             Jake Paul&lt;p&gt;•             DeAndre Cortez Way (Soulja Boy)&lt;p&gt;•             Austin Mahone&lt;p&gt;•             Michele Mason (Kendra Lust)&lt;p&gt;•             Miles Parks McCollum (Lil Yachty)&lt;p&gt;•             Shaffer Smith (Ne-Yo)&lt;p&gt;•             Aliaune Thiam (Akon)&lt;p&gt;I had to doubletake. Never did I ever think I&amp;#x27;d see this permutation of celebrities in an SEC report.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jallen_dot_dev</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s simple: they thought they could later sell it for more. Celebrities hawking it is &amp;quot;bullish&amp;quot; because other people (suckers) will see the hype and want to buy their bags. Unfortunately for them, they were the suckers.</text></comment>