SEC v. Justin Sun, Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., Rainberry, Inc., Austin Mahone, and Deandre Cortez Way (paid stock promotion, 2023)

Judgment entered

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In August 2023, the SEC reported a consent judgment against celebrity Austin Mahone in its case against Justin Sun and his companies over unregistered offerings of TRX and BTT, wash trading of TRX and undisclosed celebrity touting; the money recorded is Mahone's, and the case against the others continued.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$37.5k

Disgorgement

$7.5k

Prejudgment interest

$682

Total relief

$45.7k

Alleged gain

—

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced this matter on August 7, 2023 as release LR-25803. The respondents named are Justin Sun, Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., Rainberry, Inc., Austin Mahone and DeAndre Cortez Way (3 individuals, 3 entities).

The SEC's complaint alleges that Sun and his companies offered TRX and BTT as unregistered securities, manipulated the secondary market for TRX through extensive wash trading, and paid celebrities such as Mahone and DeAndre Cortez Way to promote the tokens without disclosing the payments. The wash trading and promotion allegations against Sun and his companies were not decided in this release.

This library tags the matter as paid stock promotion and wash trading, based on the conduct the regulator describes. Each tag links to a page explaining how that technique works, what statute it engages, and what penalties comparable actions have attracted. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

The consent judgment against Mahone imposes an injunction, a three-year bar on compensated touting of crypto asset securities, disgorgement of $7,507, interest of $682 and a civil penalty of $37,535. No money is ordered against Sun, his companies or Way in this release.

Mahone consented without admitting or denying; the litigation against Sun, his companies and Way was continuing. Allegations against them have not been proven.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with 2 techniques in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Paid stock promotion — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.
• Wash trading — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2023-08-07 Litigation release published

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• SEC litigation release

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Same matter

The library links these 3 records because they appear to concern one matter: the same lead defendant, an overlapping technique tag and close filing dates, or a shared court docket or a release that cites the other. Records are listed by date filed.

This grouping is the library's, made by matching names, techniques, dates and citations when the site is built. It is not the regulator's or a court's determination that the records are one case, and it errs towards missing a link rather than making a false one.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.