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Jimmy Fallon, Madonna, and Justin Bieber are just a few of the celebrities named in a class-action lawsuit alleging they hoodwinked fans into buying Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs and other Yuga Labs products. The suit claims celebrities lied about the non-fungible token’s value, making them seem like great investments. This allegedly prompted people to buy “losing investments” at “inflated prices.”
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of plaintiffs Adam Titcher and Adonis Real on Thursday by Scott+Scott Attorneys. It covers Yuga Labs NFT purchases made between April 2021 through today.
Titcher purchased Mutant Ape Yacht Club #1984 in August 2021 for 5.3 ETH (about $17,000 at the time) and minted Otherdeed for Otherside #16235 on OpenSea in April, while Adonis purchased an undisclosed amount of ApeCoin on Coinbase. According to the filing, both men purchased the assets “in reliance on the misleading promotions” from Yuga Labs and a number of celebrities, resulting in “investment losses.”
The plaintiffs say they lost money due to the way Yuga Labs — and Bored Ape Yacht Club talent rep Guy Oseary — promoted and sold the products.
In addition to Fallon, Madonna, and Bieber, the suit also targets a laundry list of famous names, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Paris Hilton, Serena Williams, Post Malone, Diplo, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart, Steph Curry, Future, The Weekend, DJ Khaled, Adidas, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and NFT artist Beeple.
This court action comes on the heels of a California court decision dismissing a lawsuit filed on similar grounds against Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather for promoting the EthereumMax token. In that case, the judge said plaintiffs didn’t prove they’d seen the celebrities’ promotional activities, but could re-file later if they turned up new evidence.
Read the full “Real v. Yuga Labs” 95-page class action complaint here.
Steve Huff
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