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 | 80.8% | 26 | $18 928.29 | -1.09% | -4.04% | $362 675 162 554 |  |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 |  ETH |
Ethereum predictions | 72.8% | 54 | $1 294.66 | -3.51% | -5.75% | $158 627 858 840 |  |
|
| 3 |  USDT |
Tether predictions | 96% | 1 | $1.000070 | 0% | 0% | $67 959 464 596 |  |
|
| 4 |  USDC |
USD Coin predictions | 91.6% | 1 | $1.000014 | 0.01% | -0.01% | $49 594 307 856 |  |
|
| 5 |  BNB |
Binance Coin predictions | 90.8% | 15 | $274.74 | -1.09% | 1.13% | $44 325 985 527 |  |
|
| 6 |  XRP |
XRP predictions | 61.6% | 74 | $0.500514 | -0.70% | 26.97% | $24 950 009 051 |  |
|
| 7 |  BUSD |
Binance USD predictions | 96% | 1 | $1.000119 | 0% | 0% | $20 519 701 371 |  |
|
| 8 |  ADA |
Cardano predictions | 83.2% | 32 | $0.447321 | -2.92% | -3.50% | $15 312 533 995 |  |
|
| 9 |  SOL |
Solana predictions | 84.8% | 28 | $32.55 | -3.85% | 0.89% | $11 545 262 081 |  |
|
| 10 |  STETH |
Lido stETH predictions | 90.8% | 1 | $2 941.39 | -0.40% | -3.32% | $10 258 752 564 |  |
|
| 11 |  DOGE |
Dogecoin predictions | 85.6% | 14 | $0.061629 | -4.48% | 3.07% | $8 176 334 390 |  |
|
| 12 |  DOT |
Polkadot predictions | 78.8% | 41 | $6.22 | -3.37% | -7.84% | $6 968 389 291 |  |
|
| 13 |  DAI |
Dai predictions | 90.8% | 1 | $0.999457 | -0.02% | -0.02% | $6 926 301 960 |  |
|
| 14 |  MATIC |
Polygon predictions | 73.6% | 55 | $0.746252 | -3.07% | -5.23% | $6 518 004 616 |  |
|
| 15 |  SHIB |
SHIBA INU predictions | 76.4% | 42 | $0.000011 | -4.47% | -2.59% | $6 105 472 299 |  |
