Khaby Lame’s $975M Deal Prompts ‘Pump-and-Dump’ Accusations From Securities Experts

Whereas standard TikTok influencer Khaby Lame is celebrating the $975 million acquisition of his firm, securities and alternate consultants are sounding the alarm on the rise in shares, prompting “pump-and-dump” accusations, Advanced experiences. 

Purple flags had been raised after the inventory from Wealthy Sparkle Holdings, a small Hong Kong-based agency, surged greater than 650% earlier than climbing over $180 per share after buying Lame’s Step Distinctive Restricted in an enormous all-stock deal. The rise in shares seems to provide Lame a big stake, due to his possession construction, however for the reason that agency is smaller, monetary consultants declare the valuation shouldn’t be reflective of its real-world worth.

Whereas Wealthy Sparkle labeled the transfer as influencer-driven commercialization — pushing a plan to create an “AI Digital Twin” of the viral star to provide him shareholder management — the sudden pivot from a printing enterprise to a worldwide influencer platform with inventory benefits has prompted authorized and market analysts to provide the deal the side-eye. 

Wealthy Sparkle has solely been public for the reason that summer time of 2025, promoting simply over a million shares at $4 every, placing the corporate’s worth at near $50 million on the time. However filings with the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee revealed the agency made lower than $6 million in income in 2024. Hamilton & Associates Legislation securities lawyer Brenda Hamilton referred to as the scenario “very suspect,” highlighting how Wealthy Sparkle has but to file a proper SEC doc confirming the deal’s completion whereas the corporate introduced the deal was closed. 

Veteran brief vendor Jim Chanos of Chanos & Firm stated the deal seems “utterly like a Chinese language inventory promotion,” as Enterprise Insider Africa experiences Lame’s deal pushed the corporate’s valuation to $16.3 billion, with the Senegalese-born star’s stake being value $6.6 billion. “The entire thing simply appears nuts.”

Laura Posner, accomplice at Cohen Milstein and an investor safety professional, stated the deal seems very acquainted. “I’ve solely seen that sort of inventory chart in a pump and dump scheme,” Posner stated. 

Regardless of the backlash, Lame spoke out practically per week after the announcement, saying, “Congratulations to the group at ANPA, very excited to be a shareholder and searching ahead to doing nice issues!” to his 160 million TikTok followers. His reputation has continued to develop since turning into the app’s most-followed influencer, cherished for his satirical reactions to overly sophisticated life-hack movies.

After shedding his job as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, Lame began posting on TikTok, gaining large momentum in simply two years — and an estimated annual revenue of $20 million.

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