Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What cryptocurrency scandal involved Kim Kardashian?
On the 3rd of October 2022, Kim Kardashian was fined $1.26 million for her part in an enormous cryptocurrency scandal. And we're willing to bet that's the first time quite a lot of you have heard that. I'm certainly one of them. Same. And I know more about the Kardashians than the average bear. I certainly know more than you. Yeah. Not hard. No. And a fact you're very proud of.
Chapter 2: How did the Kardashians build their empire from a sex tape scandal?
Not that you're like, I'm better than you.
You're just like, I do not engage. No, I just, I know so much about unnecessary people who are unmarried at first sight. Whereas I can't look away. No, it's not. It's not a moral judgment at all. I'm just not interested in them.
It would be fine if it were. The Kardashian brand is a modern day juggernaut of PR and celebrity influence, the likes of which have never been seen before. The story goes that through reality TV, endorsements and paid promotions, the Kardashians managed to turn a savvy staged sex tape scandal into an empire of wealth.
Chapter 3: What role does the Kardashians' community church play in their finances?
One that's actually bigger than the GDP of quite a lot of small countries. Which is impressive for one family. A blended family, I'll give you that. But it is impressive. And to be fair, this is not sponsored. Nobody thought that Skims would topple Spanx, but they fucking did. It is a far superior product. It's very good. But is there more to the Kardashians' wealth than meets the eye?
Almost certainly.
Chapter 4: What was the impact of Kim Kardashian's Instagram post on Ethereum Max?
If you dig a little deeper, it does start to look like there's quite a lot more to their success than media strategy and Kris Jenner alone.
Kim's crypto kerfuffle was far from the first time that the Kardashian name has been linked to less than savoury activity. From financial finagling to lip filler fictions, the Kardashian clan set the blueprint for how to turn fame and influence into hard cash. All bankrolled by their many, many followers. Oh, and also the small question of their own personal family church.
An institution founded by Kris Jenner herself, which receives hefty monthly donations from every member of the Kardashian clan. one whose financial records are more opaque than a bottle of Kardashian bronzer. This is The Shorthand.
So let's get back to our crypto queen. What exactly did Kim do to land herself in over a million dollars worth of hot water?
Chapter 5: What is a pump and dump scheme in cryptocurrency?
In June 2021, in the middle of the pandemic, a lot of people had a lot of time to kill in front of their phones and computers. And that meant the cryptocurrency boom was at its peak. And Kim Kardashian posted an Instagram story to her many hundreds of millions of followers. In the caption, she said that her friends had been telling her about a fantastic crypto opportunity.
I will have to say, do you know who really does know about crypto? Paris Hilton. She is all over it. There's like a clip of her on like Fallon or something ages ago explaining what blockchain is. Paris actually knows what she's talking about.
According to Kim, her friends had let her know that the cryptocurrency Ethereum Max or Emacs was, quote, giving back to the entire Emacs community by reducing supply.
Chapter 6: How did Kylie Jenner monetize her influence with lip kits?
And what happens when you reduce supply and increase demand? The price rises, I have been led to believe. Correct. I have a diesel car because I'm a piece of shit. There is no unleaded petrol in East London. Every petrol station I went to had no unleaded signs. Why do they bother saying unleaded? Because people just got used to it. Because it's not like, oh, why don't you just go get some leaded?
But within our lifetime, it would have been.
Chapter 7: What controversies surrounded the Kardashian prepaid debit card?
So we also are one of the few countries that still say petrol or have ever said petrol. So we're already just hanging on to convention, you know. So it's just one of those dumb things. Though I do refuse to say gas.
I refuse to say gas station.
Oh, I'm not an animal.
Yeah. Because I'm like writing a script in the moment, it's an American case and it's like very heavily featured around a gas station. And I keep writing gas station and then I change it. I'm like, no, it's a fucking petrol station.
Chapter 8: How does Kris Jenner's church serve the Kardashian family's financial interests?
A gallon of your finest petroleum, please. We know, we know. What a ridiculous nation. In the aftermath of this Ethereum Max incident, the head of the UK's Financial Conduct Authority, Charles Randell, said that the post may have been the financial promotion with the single biggest audience reach in history. And the price of this huge promotion is that the price rose accordingly.
As a result of Kim K's post and similar posts by other celebrities, all presumably with the same friend, like boxing legend Floyd Mayweather, Emacs did indeed rise. For a short while, it was worth 1,300% of its original value, before sharply dropping. But predictably, the people who profited from the spike were not the new investors Kim had brought to the table. Surprise, surprise.
They were, of course, the sellers. That is, people who purchased Emacs before Kim K's post and before the subsequent rise in value. This is what is called a pump and dump. Artificially inflating the price of a stock, bond or cryptocurrency, and then selling at peak inflation for a huge profit. And it is very much illegal now.
There was a sweet spot where they could get away with it.
So let's get to the arse covering portion of our episode today. There is no public evidence we have found that Kim Kardashian or her team bought Emacs before the spike and sold it.
But Kim did get into hot water over this. Initially, Kim and the other celebrities linked to their friend and the promotion had tried to avoid any legal fallout through savvy captioning. What we mean is the use of the hashtag, hashtag ad.
My favorite is when people used to put hashtag ad and like put it in the picture and then change it to like a color that was in the picture so that you couldn't see that it was there. But you'd be like, well, it was there. You just couldn't see it.
Yeah, how the mighty have fallen. So the argument for the hashtag ad, hidden in the image or not, is that they're telling you that what they were saying wasn't financial advice.
That's gross.
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