Mila Kunis is being placed under investigation for an alleged NFT scam surrounding her animated series Stoner Cats. The investigation is being held by the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly misleading investors in addition to offering unregistered securities.
As noted via Mashable, “the NFT company that the SEC is going after this time is backed by actress Mila Kunis and Orchard Farm Productions, her production company.” The overall project involved using NFTs for the titular Stoner Cats to fund the overall animated series.
The project is further described as follows:
“Stoner Cats were marketed as an NFT project that would fund an animated series about an elderly woman and her cannabis-smoking cats. Kunis led the project, and along with other self-described crypto experts and Hollywood producers, formed Stoner Cats 2 LLC (SC2).”
For those doubting Kunis’ involvement with the project, she quite publicly promoted the series. In fact, she discussed it while appearing on Conan O’Brien’s TBS talk show and discussed the NFTs that would be available. The launch eventually raised more than $8 million after selling 10,000 Stoner Cats NFTs at $800 a piece.
The animated web series debuted soon after. In addition to the voice talents of Mila Kunis, her husband Ashton Kutcher, and other celebrities like Chris Rock, the cast also included Gary Vaynerchuk aka Gary Vee and Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin as characters.
The SEC’s Division of Enforcement director Gurbir S. Grewal shared the following statement:
“Regardless of whether your offering involves beavers, chinchillas or animal-based NFTs, under the federal securities laws, it’s the economic reality of the offering – not the labels you put on it or the underlying objects – that guides the determination of what’s an investment contract and therefore a security,” he shared.
Stoner Cats 2 LLC, aka SC2, has so far “agreed to a cease-and-desist order,” and furthermore “did not dispute the SEC’s investigation.” They will have to “pay a civil penalty of $1 million, which will be used to set up a ‘Fair Fund’ to reimburse investors injured by the sale. The company must also destroy all Stoner Cats NFTs in its possession as part of the settlement.”
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates as we have them.
Mila Kunis Under Investigation For NFT Scam
Source: Breaking Update News
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