(Podcast) The Briefing: Influencer Fail – ALO Yoga & Influencers Named in $150M Class Action Lawsuit for FTC Violations
LEGAL ALERT | NAD Finds Kevin Hart’s Social Media Disclosures Insufficient in Monitoring Decisions
The Briefing: How “Knockoff” Furniture Landed Kim Kardashian in an IP Lawsuit
The Briefing: How “Knockoff” Furniture Landed Kim Kardashian in an IP Lawsuit (Podcast)
(Podcast) The Briefing: Beyond the Hashtag – FTC Revises Guidelines for Endorsement Use in Advertising
Podcast - The FTC Cracks Down on Celebrity Endorsers
Hsu Untied interview with Brian Anderson, Partner at Sheppard Mullin
Is the Grass Greener? Weighing the Risks and Rewards of Celebrity Branding in the Cannabis Industry – The 2022 Cannalaw Summit: Part 2
Is the Grass Greener? Weighing the Risks and Rewards of Celebrity Branding in the Cannabis Industry – The 2022 Cannalaw Summit: Part 1
For years now we’ve been blogging about how much the FTC and even the SEC on occasion love scrolling Instagram posts to see what influencer are up to. This post is about another three letter organization who likes to scroll...more
On August 16, 2024, Judge Federico A. Morena of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss a putative class action asserting claims under...more
On August 4, 2023, celebrity singer Austin Mahone entered into a settlement agreement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after being sued in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY)...more
Securities products and social media don’t always mix. Just ask any of the celebrities who in recent years have faced SEC charges for unlawfully touting crypto asset securities. In March, the SEC settled charges against six...more
The world’s ever-changing technological landscape has led to the formation of new mediums of creativity — mediums that the sports and entertainment industry cannot ignore. Digital currencies, virtual universes, and enhanced...more
On March 22, 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint in US District Court for the Southern District of New York against Justin Sun, the owner of BitTorrent, Inc., a file-sharing platform; three...more
NBA Hall of Famer Paul Pierce, known by basketball fans as “The Truth,” has run afoul of the SEC. No, not that SEC—Pierce played college basketball at Kansas in the Big 12. No, this would be the U.S. Securities and Exchange...more
The SEC has settled several cases of improper celebrity crypto endorsements over the past several years. The most recent example involved NBA hall of famer Paul Pierce, also known as the “Truth.” The crux of the SEC’s...more
Former NBA player and Hall of Famer Paul Pierce is the latest celebrity cryptocurrency promoter to get caught in the net of the anti-touting provisions of federal securities laws. In a recent settled order issued by the SEC,...more
Despite the minimal regulatory enforcement actions against blockchain game companies and NFT issuers, now is NOT the time to become complacent about regulatory issues. As indicated below, many U.S. agencies are increasing...more
Even before the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX empire, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was paying increasing attention to the market for cryptocurrencies. Back in June, the Chair of the SEC, Gary Gensler,...more
On December 1, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated and remanded a district court’s decision to certify a class of more than 200,000 retirees alleging that collateralized loans serviced by the...more
There is more news of recent investigations and charges involving people in the cryptocurrency world. The FTX cryptocurrency exchange recently collapsed. Its CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been arrested in the Bahamas and...more
Four days after FTX, once the world’s third-largest crypto exchange, filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy, former FTX investors filed a class action against 11 athletes and celebrities who promoted FTX in advertisements...more
Online cryptocurrency promotion—and promotion on social media in particular—has garnered national media attention in recent months. First, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it had entered into a...more
The SEC has rung the bell again on a celebrity touting a crypto token offering without adequate disclosure of a paid role. On October 3, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission released its order instituting cease and...more
On October 3, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a press release in which it announced that it had reached a settlement in an investigation involving celebrity influencer Kim Kardashian for touting a crypto...more
As one of the most famous individuals in the world, it is not uncommon for Kim Kardashian (“Kardashian”) to make headlines. Recently, the headline related to fines and penalties to be paid to the Securities and Exchange...more
The SEC spread its reach to Hollywood this month – on October 3, 2022, the SEC announced charges against Kim Kardashian for her social media promotions of EMAX, a digital token issued by EthereumMax. The SEC found that...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settled with Kim Kardashian over allegations she violated Section 17(b) of the Securities Act (the “Act”) by publishing an Instagram post promoting the crypto-currency, EthereumMax...more
A week ago, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission charged Kim Kardashian with touting on social media a crypto asset security offered and sold by EthereumMax without disclosing the payment she received for the...more
Ms. Kardashian found herself on the wrong side of the law Monday, when the SEC entered a cease-and-desist order against her (the “Kardashian Order”), finding her in violation of Section 17(b) of the Securities Act of 1933....more
In Part 1 of our two-part series about advertising in the metaverse, we summarized its history, discussed its broad implications, and analyzed the attention regulators are giving to false advertising in this area. In...more
NFTs Expand on Social Media, Celebrity NFT Endorsements Scrutinized - According to reports, one of the world’s largest social media platforms recently expanded its NFT (non-fungible token) initiative, allowing users in...more
From Eminem to Snoop Dog, Tony Hawk to Lionel Messi, William Shatner to Brie Larson, music, sports, and Hollywood celebrities have eagerly jumped on the NFT (non-fungible token) bandwagon. Whether launching their own...more