Investors in the FLiK initial coin offering (ICO) have opposed a bid by Kevin Hart to have the case against him dismissed. The investors claimed that Hart duped them into investing in FLiK tokens, only for them to become worthless in months. They have sued the Hollywood star for $7 million in a class action lawsuit whose chances seem to be dwindling by the day.
The investors, who are assumed to be 25, asked a federal judge in Georgia to dismiss Hart’s motion to dismiss, Law360 reports. They claim that the actor and comedian’s social media pages touted the FLiK tokens, misleading his over 50 million followers into investing in them. Hart’s endorsement played a key part in pumping the value of the tokens, they claim.
In their plea, they allege that Hart was fully aware of his role in the scheme “or at the very least was reckless in promoting an unregistered sham to his 50,000,000 followers.” They claim that he was instrumental in pushing the price of the tokens by 400% from $0.06 to $0.30 in the three months between August and October 2017. The price crumbled the next year, losing close to 75% of its value.
Hart may be able to find comfort in how T.I.’s case turned out, with the judge dismissing the case against the Atlanta-based rapper and music producer. T.I. was also involved in the FLiK ICO, but Judge Charles Pannell ruled that the investors failed to prove that he “provided any statements about the value of the FLiK tokens.”
However, unlike T.I., Hart did make statements that pointed to the value of the tokens, and how they would shoot up. In one post on Facebook back in 2017 when the price was soaring, he captioned a photo of him and T.I., “Me telling [T.I.] how much help he gon need spending all that money he gonna make on his new venture. Lmfao But seriously, I’m Super Excited for T.I. and FLiK They’re gonna crush it! #ICO #blockchain #crypto #bitcoin.”
The investors sued Hart for the first time back in May 2019, claiming $7 million in damages. At the time, they were suing T.I. as well. However, from the onset, T.I. made it clear through his lawyer that he wasn’t part of FLiK’s team and that he never received any compensation from the company. Hart, on the other hand, has remained quiet about how involved he was. His social media posts promoting the company are still up. According to the lawsuit, Ryan Felton, the founder of the scam, also led people to believe that Hart was poised to become part owner of the company, and Hart didn’t dispute it at the time.
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