Scott+Scott, the international law firm, has accused Bored Ape NFT company Yuga Labs of utilizing “celebrity promoters and endorsements to inflate the price of the company’s NFTs and token.”
However, there have been no court records that signify that an official class-action case has been filed against Yuga Labs.
According to the Scott+Scott website, the firm is currently seeking investors that have “suffered losses in association with the purchase of Yuga Labs tokens or NFTs between April 2022 and June 2022.”
The bucks stop here
Apecoin (APE), a crypto asset that’s associated with the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) as well as the Otherside metaverse project is the token that was named against Yuga Labs in the accusations.
The Scott+Scott web page states, “After selling off millions of dollars of fraudulently promoted NFTs, Yuga Labs launched the Ape Coin to further fleece investors. Once it was revealed that the touted growth was entirely dependent on continued promotion (as opposed to actual utility or underlying technology) retail investors were left with tokens that had lost over 87% from the inflated price high on April 28, 2022.”
The website added, “As a result, Yuga Labs’ individual investors are now joining together through a class action brought by law firm Scott+Scott, to seek restitution for losses incurred from the purchase of Yuga Labs tokens and NFTs. If you suffered losses in association with the purchase of Yuga Labs tokens or NFTs between April 2022 and June 2022 you are encouraged to reach out to Scott+Scott to learn more about your legal rights.”
Scott+Scott’s six different crypto cases
On the Scott+Scott website, it is noted that the legal firm is involved with several “crypto cases.” Some crypto legal matters involve crypto companies and projects such as Safemoon, Celsius, Terra, Ethermax, Solana Labs, and Yuga Labs.
It would appear that if you’re feeling burned by a Crypto NFT investment, who ya gonna call…
Yuga Labs has remained silent regarding the accusations from Scott+Scott, with its most recent tweet being about a threat to the NFT community.
On July 18, 2022 Yuga Labs tweeted, “Our security team has been tracking a persistent threat group that targets the NFT community. We believe that they may soon be launching a coordinated attack targeting multiple communities via compromised social media accounts. Please be vigilant and stay safe.”
Over the last couple of years, boutique law firms that focus on complex legal matters that have to do with blockchain technology have been more prominent in the crypto industry. Similar to Scott+Scott, several law firms are taking on many litigation cases that involve crypto-currencies and other alleged unregistered securities.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.