American actor and action star Steven Seagal agreed to pay a fine of $314,000 for participating in the advertising of the ICO project on social networks in 2018.

Stephen Seagal settled a dispute with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the 2018 Bitcoiin2Gen token advertisement. The actor agreed to pay a fine of $314,000. Furthermore, he will be prohibited from participating in the promotion and advertising of any securities, whether traditional or digital assets, for three years.

"Without admitting or denying the SEC's findings, Seagal agreed to pay $157,000 in disgorgement, which represents his actual promotional payments, plus prejudgment interest, and a $157,000 penalty," SEC reports.

According to the US watchdog, Seagal did not disclose that he was promised to earn $250,000 in cash and $750,000 in B2G tokens in exchange for his participation in the advertisement.

Seagal advised buying tokens of the Bitcoiin2Gen ICO project through his public accounts on social networks and urged the public not to “miss” the ICO of Bitcoiin2Gen. The B2G token lost 99% of its original value up to date.

The Bitcoiin2Gen press release also contained a quote from Stephen Seagal, who claimed that he supported the Bitcoiin2Gen ICO “wholeheartedly”. The advertising campaign was conducted six months after the SEC's warning in 2017 that ICO coins might be classified as securities by the US authorities.

“These investors were entitled to know about payments Seagal received or was promised to endorse this investment so they could decide whether he may be biased,” said Kristina Littman, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Cyber Unit.

Under US federal laws on securities, any celebrity or other person who advertises securities, even if they are issued as a virtual token, must disclose the nature and amount of compensation received in exchange for participating in the promotion.