The NFTs market has fallen meteorically in recent months, being a speculative bubble and having exploded in 2022. And besides all the people who lost their money, the public figures who supported him are also being affected. How? Through class action lawsuits.
According to a report by The Hollywood Reporter, very high-profile public figures, such as Jimmy Fallon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Justin Bieber, Madonna, Kevin Hart, Stephen Curry, Snoop Dogg, Serena Williams, Post Malone, The Weeknd, and many more, have just received a class action lawsuit for publicly supporting the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, as well as the MoonPay payment system.
Celebrity Promoters Sued Over Bored Ape NFT Endorsements https://t.co/HQ78qL8tnB
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) December 9, 2022
According to the lawsuit, these stars received very high amounts of money to promote Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), in order to encourage their fans to acquire those NFTs, even ensuring that they had acquired a few. As you know, this market is based on buying and selling, so generating great expectation is essential to inflate the price of items. On the other hand, these celebrities also promoted the MoonPay payment system to buy those NFTs, but they also did not reveal that many of them even had shares in that company.
Gwyneth Paltrow revealing that she bought a BAYC NFT through MoonPay
Thus, the lawsuit considers that they took advantage of their fans, inviting them to make bad investments at inflated prices. Today, the NFTs market has fallen more than 90% since its peak in 2021, so virtually all the assets that were purchased at that time today are only worth a fraction of that price and represent a net loss.
“The truth is that the entire business model of the company is based on the use of insidious promotional and marketing activities of important celebrities who are highly compensated (without disclosing it), in order to increase the demand for the assets of Yuga Labs (the company that manages BAYC) by convincing potential investors that the price of these digital assets would appreciate,” the complaint filed in a California federal court mentions.
Apparently, the master plan was devised by Guy Oseary together with Yuga Labs, a talent agent who has connections with the agents of most of the aforementioned stars. Oseary also has shares in MoonPay, so it would have suited him if so many transactions at such high prices were carried out through that system.
At the moment, none of the defendants has come forward in this regard.
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