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Artist News Legal
TI fined $75,000 for promoting dodgy ICO for a “Netflix on the blockchain”
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 14 September 2020
Rapper TI was fined $75,000 last week by the US Securities And Exchange Commission for his role in a venture called Flik, finance for which was raised by one of those Initial Coin Offering schemes where so called Flik tokens were sold.
The US regulator said that TI – real name Clifford Harris – broke the law when he promoted and sold the now worthless Flik tokens via his social media accounts. In particular, the rapper falsely claimed to be a co-owner of Flik.
The SEC added that it had pursued action against a total of five people in relation to the rule-breaking that occurred during the Flik ICO, four of whom – including Harris – have now agreed to settle.
Legal action continues against the fifth man, film producer Ryan Felton, who billed Flik as “Netflix on the blockchain”, claiming that he was going to launch a platform where people would access streaming media paid for with those pesky Flik tokens.
Some might argue that anyone who invested in a company employing a trendy ICO to raise money for a streaming service to be built on the fucking blockchain possibly deserved to lose all their cash, but regulations designed to protect investors still need to be followed.
A legal rep for Harris insisted that the rapper didn’t make any money himself out of his involvement in the Flik project, basically saying that his client had also been duped by Felton. Harris, his lawyer said, “believed [Felton] to be a local entrepreneur trying to make it easier for new artists to enter the music industry”.
