Rapper T.I., also known as Clifford Joseph Harris Junior, has been charged by the SEC for allegedly promoting a fraudulent cryptocurrency.

There’s no mercy here, because T.I is in trouble, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC allege that the ‘About the Money’ singer sold cryptocurrency tokens via his Twitter account.

He then encouraged his followers to invest in the 2017 FliK ICO, falsely claiming that he was a part owner.

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“FLIK ICO is now open!!!” he Tweeted. He also used the #blockchain and #bitcoin hashtags, as if to give it some legitimacy. FLiK is a digital streaming platform, and it was not just T.I. that jumped on the opportunity to allegedly promote pseudo trading tips.

Film producer Ryan Felton promised to “put Netflix on the blockchain,” as stated in the case. Surprisingly, it was all a ruse as the SEC claim that Felton took the money from FLiK and used it to drive up the price of a second ICO, CoinSpark. Spark is a digital trading asset platform, and if you wish you could go back to the days where rappers made it rain with physical cash, then you’re not alone.

T.I. “offered and sold FLiK” tokens, pretending to co-own the business and encouraging his followers to invest in the project. The SEC also claims that T.I. was not alone in his actions, getting his friends to do the bidding as well.

The commission claims T.I. recruited “a celebrity friend” to promote the FLiK ICO on social media,  even going as far as providing copy for the posts. T.I.’s social media manager was also accused of offering and selling FLiK tokens via T.I.’s social media accounts.

T.I. is yet to make a statement about the charges, but he has agreed to a $75 000 fine, as well as not participating in similar digital asset securities sales for the next five years.

Steven Seagal found himself in similar trouble a while back, and maybe we should just leave the experts to give us the tips like they always should.

It really is about the money.

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