Soulja Boy and Lil Yachty Named in Suit Accused of Misleading Crypto Buyers in ‘Pump and Dump’ Scheme

Soulja Boy and Lil Yachty are just two of several high-profile celebrities named in a class-action lawsuit claiming that they were involved in a plot to “pump and dump” SafeMoon tokens by sharing false information with their supporters, all to the benefit of crypto founder and CEO Braden John Karony and other top-level executives.

According to ClassAction.org, the two rappers, as well as online influencer Jake Paul, Nick Carter, and YouTuber Ben Phillips, were hired to promote and attract more investors for Safemoon in exchange for the cryptocurrency token “V1.” However, the 60-page suit claims those in charge misled buyers and artificially inflated the currency’s value, permitting Karony and his associates to sell their holdings while the numbers were still high.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 12: Soulja Boy Visits Blue Midtown at Blue Midtown on November 12, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage)

Legal documents described the plan as a “slow rug pull.” The alleged ‘pump and dump’ strategy saw the value of the SafeMoon token rise “astronomically” after its creation in March 2021. Records also state the tokens shot up by 875 percent a little over a week following the celebrity-driven marketing campaign, peaking at $191.6 million on April 22, according to the complaint.

By then, executives had already left the company before establishing a wallet for its cryptocurrency they initially promised would give investors a “better place” to hold their tokens. Continued promises of the wallet help stabilize the cryptocurrency’s value.

However, when no wallet appeared by the end of the year, SafeMoon’s value tanked. “On December 31, 2021, the price of the SafeMoon Token hit a low of $0.0000006521 per token, an over 80% drop from its height during the Class Period, which it has not been able to recover,” reads the lawsuit. “As of the filing of this Complaint, the trading volume for the SafeMoon Token has plummeted to around only $60,000.”

During the period that should’ve ended with the wallet’s launch, many of the company executives left, including chief technology officer, Hank Wyatt, resigned. The suit alleges Wyatt “knew or should have known” about the wallet’s failed launch.

At the time this article was published, none of the celebrity defendants named have made public statements about the lawsuit.