As I discussed here in 2021: An excellent year for the unscrupulous, it is important to understand that there is no level of personal wealth at which those without scruples will stop capitalizing on positions of trust and gullible followers.
This is why it’s imperative that we set zero-tolerance policies, prosecute abusers, and disgorge any profits they have amassed by breaching their duty of care. Moral suasion, ethical standards and laws are meaningless when corporate and individual offenders can retain profits from their actions.
The system is rotting from within because predatory, trust-abusing behaviours have been increasingly tolerated and normalized from corporations and corporate insiders, central bankers, judges, politicians, media, so-called ‘advisers,’ celebrities and social influencers down. Pump and dump have replaced ethics as the dominant model in an “everybody does it” world, and the social costs keep mounting.
Cryptocurrencies conscripting politicians and celebrities to promote their Ponzi is just the latest iteration, see: Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather sued by investors over alleged crypto scam:
“EthereumMax has lost around 97% of its value since early June, leading some investors to label it as a “pump and dump” scheme where scammers attempt to boost the price of an asset through false or misleading statements. The accusation features in Huegerich’s lawsuit, which accuses Kardashian and Mayweather of “shilling” EthereumMax.
…social media influencers are routinely paid by scammers to help them pump and dump new tokens on the back of pure speculation.”
While crypto-coins have broadly dropped 30% plus in the last two months, shares of related companies have fared even worse.