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T.I. and his business partner are being sued for securities fraud after a group of investors claim they poured over $1.3 million in a cryptocurrency the duo launched — and all they got was flat broke in return.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, the 25 investors claim the rapper and a guy named Ryan Felton used “social media, celebrity endorsements, and well-known industry experts to create the false impression that FLiK Tokens were a valuable liquid investment.”
The plaintiffs allege they invested over a million “for now worthless securities called FLiK Tokens.”
Here’s how The Blast breaks it down:
In the lawsuit, the investors claim Felton and T.I. drove up the price of the tokens using the money they got from investors and then “dumped” their tokens and disappeared. They claim once they realized what went down, Felton created a new company that he said acquired FLiK “and speciously told investors that he had nothing to do with the new sham company.”
As part of their efforts to drive up the price, the investors claim T.I. and Felton made it seem like Kevin Hart was going to be the face of FLiK and even “owner of the business.”
Felton even got Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to invest and “created fake online posts on behalf of Mark Cuban in order to manipulate the value of FLiK Tokens.”
Then in late 2017, a massive “dump” of FLiK tokens caused a significant drop in their value, the report states.
“Felton explained that the devaluation was caused, at least in part, because T.I. had given FLiK tokens to members of his family and friends who had sold massive amounts on coinexchange.com causing rapid devaluation,” the plaintiffs state.
The investors are suing T.I. and Felton — seeking no less than $5,000,000 in damages.
