The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has won a
judgment against Steven Seagal after the famous actor failed to pay the
agreed sum to settle the crypto fraud case he was involved in. Seagal,
now living in Russia, has been ignoring the SEC’s attempts to contact
him.
Steven Seagal Ignores SEC, Fails to Pay Settlement
A federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District
of New York, William Kuntz, signed an order Friday allowing the SEC to
collect fines, penalties, and interest from Steven Seagal.
The famous actor had agreed to pay disgorgement of more than $330,000
to settle the crypto fraud case he was involved in. The SEC alleged
that Seagal failed to disclose that he was promised $250,000 in cash and
$750,000 in tokens for promoting an initial coin offering (ICO) for
Bitcoiin2gen. The SEC settled the case with Seagal in February 2020.
However, the movie star made just one $75,000 payment and is
delinquent on the remainder, according to a letter from Maureen Peyton
King, a lawyer for the SEC.
Judge Kuntz’s Friday order means the SEC can go through Seagal’s
business manager to try and collect the remaining $255,000 that the
actor owes the U.S. government. When Peyton King asked him if she could
serve the papers upon his business manager, Judge Kuntz confirmed,
“Absolutely, yes.”
Seagal is currently living in Russia. Russian President Vladimir
Putin issued a presidential decree in 2016 granting the actor Russian
citizenship.
The SEC noted that Seagal has not responded to its repeated demands
after he made the initial payment. Last week, Kuntz directed Seagal or
his representatives to appear in court to respond to the SEC. However,
neither Seagal, his former lawyer nor his manager appeared
