Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather Jr. won a tentative court ruling dismissing a lawsuit accusing the celebrities of scamming investors in a cryptocurrency called EthereumMax.
Investors claimed in a January complaint they paid "inflated prices" for blockchain-based digital assets because the reality television star and ex-boxing champion hyped the EMAX tokens.
Former Boston Celtic Paul Pierce was also named as a defendant in the proposed class-action suit.
U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald said Monday in a written order his "tentative view" is that lawyers for the investors are "trying to act like" the US Securities and Exchange Commission — but "haven't chosen to view the tokens as a security" and didn't invoke a standard securities fraud claim in their case.
Fitzgerald said the celebrities also didn't "care to label the tokens as a security for obvious reasons." The judge said he will issue a final written order later.
A lawyer for Kardashian declined to comment before a final ruling in the investor case is issued. An attorney for the investors didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
