According to a class action lawsuit filed on Thursday, celebrities like Paris Hilton, Jimmy Fallon, and Madonna who advertised Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs received payment for doing so but failed to disclose the deals.
Plaintiffs Adonis Real and Adam Titcher claimed in their complaint submitted to the federal Central District Court of California that they bought NFTs produced by Yuga Labs, the parent company of Bored Ape Yacht Club, among other NFT collections, after seeing the endorsement of well-known celebrities who, according to the plaintiffs, were part of a “vast scheme” to inflate the value of the NFTs.
Furthermore, according to the complaint, Yuga Labs officials colluded with the crypto-trading app Moonpay and Hollywood talent agent Guy Oseary, who represents Bored Apes, to entice famous people to promote BAYC NFTs while concealing the fact that they were being paid to do so. The complaint claims that Oseary and many of his clients were early investors in MoonPay, which processed payments to celebrities in cryptocurrency and other digital assets for what appeared to be “organic” marketing.
The promotional effort used by the defendants was extremely effective, resulting in billions of dollars in purchases and resales. According to the complaint, “fabricated celebrity endorsements and deceptive advertisements… were able to artificially enhance interest in and price of the BAYC NFTs…, prompting investors to purchase these losing investments at substantially inflated rates.
One instance mentioned in the complaint was when MoonPay shared a clip from Post Malone’s music video for “One Right Now” in November 2021. In the clip, the rapper and musician The Weeknd are shown using the MoonPay app to purchase a Bored Ape. The MoonPay tweet stated, “This just happened.”
Blockchain records, according to the plaintiffs’ attorneys, demonstrate that Malone received a transfer of ether valued at $1.4 million in October 2021. They assert that this is proof that Malone received payment for his promotion of BAYC.
According to the complaint, “MoonPay’s statement that ‘this just happened’ misled investors into believing that Defendants Post and Tesfaye [the Weekndpromotion ]’s of MoonPay and the BAYC NFT collection within the so-called music video was something that occurred because of their genuine interest in the BAYC NFTs.”
As a kind of mastermind behind the alleged plan, Oseary is repeatedly singled out in the lawsuit, which claims that he “recognized a chance to benefit by leveraging his celebrity contacts to promote the sale of Yuga securities, and he took it.” Oseary is described in the complaint as a “fixer,” and it is said that he got in touch with artist Ryder Ripps to encourage him to drop his assertion that the Bored Ape Yacht club is filled with neo-Nazi dog whistles. Regarding Ripps’ NFT collection RR/BAYC, Ryder Ripps and Yuga Labs are currently involved in litigation.
The celebrities mentioned in the lawsuit include Oseary’s client Madonna, who talked about the Bored Apes in a Rolling Stone article, Jimmy Fallon, who promoted the Apes and MoonPay on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, along with Justin Bieber, Gwyneth Paltrow, Serena Williams, Kevin Hart, Wardell Stephen Curry II, and rapper Khalid.
