SafeMoon pump-and-dump lawsuit targets Jake Paul, Soulja Boy and others
The new proposed class action alleges that SafeMoon recruited a number of celebrities to lure investors in with misleading promotions. A new class-action lawsuit demands a jury trial against A-list celebrities and social influencers for their alleged participation in a classic pump-and-dump scheme relating to SafeMoon tokens.
SafeMoon, a BNB Chain-native cryptocurrency, allegedly recruited a number of celebrities to lure investors in with misleading promotions. Some of the prominent names roped in by the scheme include musicians such as Nick Carter, Soulja Boy, Lil Yachty and YouTubers Jake Paul and Ben Phillips.
According to the lawsuit, SafeMoon and its subsidiaries mimicked real-life Ponzi schemes by misleading investors to purchase SafeMoon tokens under the pretext of unrealistic profits. Citing the ecosystem’s “burn” and “tokenomics” as key drivers for SafeMoon’s price potential, the recruited celebrities allegedly convinced their followers to invest in the token. Furthermore, the lawsuit points out numerous instances where the recruited celebrities successfully hyped the token enough to artificially increase the trading volume and price. While SafeMoon witnessed multifold growth over several months, the sudden departure of the company’s C-suite executives was when the token prices started plummeting, as evidenced by the graph below (marked in yellow):
The lawsuit alleges a “slow rug pull” attempt from the involved celebrities, implying a slow sell-off of holdings as the trading volume from retail investors remains inflated: “The Promoter Defendants’ improper promotional activities generated the trading volume needed for all the Defendants to offload their SAFEMOON Tokens onto unsuspecting investors.”
Drafted by plaintiffs Bill Merewhuader, Christopher Polite and Tim Viane, the lawsuit looks to represent and compensate all individuals who bought SafeMoon tokens since March 8, 2021, and were victims of the alleged rug pull attempt.
One of the biggest highlights of Super Bowl 2022 was the crypto commercials. Amid the craze around the advertisements, crypto exchange Binance launched a marketing campaign to warn investors against the incoming crypto hype fueled by mainstream celebrities. As Cointelegraph reported, Binance’s ultimate aim with this campaign was to direct new users to its own platform and the educational crypto primer tools on its website.
Top Cryptocurrencies with Price Predictions
| # | Crypto | Prediction | Accuracy | CVIX | Price | 24h | 7d | Market Cap | 7d price change | |
| 1 |  BTC |
Bitcoin predictions | 71.6% | 54 | $28 035.57 | 1.66% | 4.95% | $541 839 096 808 |  |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 |  ETH |
Ethereum predictions | 75.6% | 39 | $1 775.07 | 1.02% | 1.84% | $217 221 883 335 |  |
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| 3 |  USDT |
Tether predictions | 92.8% | 1 | $1.000976 | -0.19% | -0.14% | $78 562 701 230 |  |
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| 4 |  BNB |
Binance Coin predictions | 75.6% | 51 | $323.46 | -0.40% | -2.95% | $51 071 426 316 |  |
|
| 5 |  USDC |
USD Coin predictions | 92.4% | 2 | $0.999601 | 0.01% | -0.01% | $34 392 573 197 |  |
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| 6 |  XRP |
XRP predictions | 86% | 21 | $0.428645 | -4.23% | 14.37% | $21 839 846 254 |  |
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| 7 |  HEX |
HEX predictions | 59.2% | 82 | $0.096384 | -19.91% | 10.66% | $16 714 004 185 |  |
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| 8 |  ADA |
Cardano predictions | 74.8% | 43 | $0.362541 | -2.33% | 6.05% | $12 588 135 268 |  |
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| 9 |  STETH |
Lido stETH predictions | 95.6% | 1 | $2 941.39 | -0.40% | -3.32% | $10 258 752 564 |  |
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| 10 |  DOGE |
Dogecoin predictions | 70.8% | 51 | $0.075059 | -2.95% | 0.21% | $9 958 117 300 |  |
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| 11 |  MATIC |
Polygon predictions | 77.6% | 48 | $1.11 | -1.01% | -7.45% | $9 708 811 453 |  |
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| 12 |  SOL |
Solana predictions | 75.2% | 52 | $21.67 | -0.29% | 6.07% | $8 316 110 713 |  |
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| 13 |  BUSD |
Binance USD predictions | 96% | 1 | $0.996930 | -0.27% | -0.39% | $8 039 266 757 |  |
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| 14 |  DOT |
Polkadot predictions | 73.6% | 49 | $6.16 | -0.32% | -4.71% | $7 244 608 987 |  |
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| 15 |  LTC |
Litecoin predictions | 72% | 58 | $91.86 | 0.28% | 9.72% | $6 664 265 906 |  |
