Dozens of celebrities, MoonPay, and Yuga Labs are being sued for “manufactured celebrity endorsements and misleading promotions” of BAYC NFTs.
A class action complaint has been filed against Snoop Dogg, Justin Bieber, The Weekend, and dozens of other celebrities, as well as the owners of Yuga Labs, MoonPay, and ApeDAO council members, for marketing Bored Ape NFTs.
Attorneys for two consumers called Adonis Real and Adam Titcher filed a complaint in federal court in Los Angeles on Thursday, alleging that celebrity endorsements of Bored Ape NFTs prompted investors to acquire the “losing investments at drastically inflated prices.”
Paris Hilton, Madonna, and Jimmy Fallon are among the celebrities listed in the case, along with industry leaders such as MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, and talent manager Guy Oseary.
The complaint alleges that the celebrities participated in a “vast scam” involving Yuga Labs, Guy Oseary, and MoonPay, who “devised a plan to leverage their vast network of A-list musicians, athletes, and celebrity clients and associates to misleadingly promote and sell Yuga Labs products.”
The plaintiffs alleged that Yuga Labs, MoonPay, and Oseary secretly compensated celebrities for promoting Bored Ape NFTs without informing the public. Numerous celebrities identified in the class action complaint were MoonPay investors.
The complaint also states that celebrity endorsements of Bored Ape NFTs caused investors to purchase the “losing investments at drastically inflated prices.” Justin Bieber, who is named in the complaint, appears to have also suffered a loss, as his Bored Ape #3001, which he purchased for $1.3 million, is now worth $69,000 following the collapse of the FTX.
Madonna purchased a Bored Ape NFT for 180 ETH in March with the assistance of MoonPay’s concierge service, which has been assisting celebrities in acquiring valuable NFTs. Jimmy Fallon, Post Malone, and Snoop Dogg are previous clients of MoonPay’s concierge service. Twice on his show, including once during a discussion with Paris Hilton, Fallon mentioned MoonPay, but denied any business affiliation with the company.
The plaintiffs further alleged that Yuga Labs created ApeCoin “out of thin air” and that the Ape DAO board “sought to obscure their sales of their own massive ApeCoin allocations directly to retail purchasers.”
This year, lawsuits against celebrity sponsorships on Web3 have made news. The lawsuit against Kim Kardashian, Floyd Mayweather, and others for promoting EthereumMax was rejected by a federal judge on Wednesday. This new complaint was launched against Yuga Labs by John T. Jasnoch of Scott + Scott Attorneys. Investors also launched a lawsuit against Larry David, Tom Brady, Giselle Bündchen, Shaquille O’Neal, and Stephen Curry following the shocking collapse of FTX.
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