Key Takeaways
- The lawsuit has been filed by Dan Holland, on behalf of the victims of CryptoZoo.
- The suit alleges that Paul and CryptoZoo stole millions of dollars worth of purchaser’s crypto via a fraudulent venture.
Youtuber Logan Paul and the cryptocurrency game CryptoZoo have been named as defendants in the latest filed class-action lawsuit. According to the filing, the lawsuit has been filed by Dan Holland, on behalf of the victims of CryptoZoo.
The lawsuit claims that Paul and CryptoZoo stole millions of dollars worth of purchaser’s crypto via a “fraudulent venture.”
Don Holland alleges that CryptoZoo “executed a ‘rug pull'” by luring purchasers of NFTs with special benefits but later abandoned the project and kept the funds to themself.
“As part of Defendants’ NFT scheme, Defendants marketed CZ NFTs to purchasers by falsely claiming that, in exchange for transferring cryptocurrency to purchase the CZ NFT, purchasers would later receive benefits, including, among other things, rewards, exclusive access to other cryptocurrency assets, and the support of an online ecosystem to use and market CZ NFTs,” the filing reads.
Attorney Tom, who filed the class action lawsuit, had disclosed on Twitter that the lawsuit was filed in the Western District of Texas against Logan Paul for the CryptoZoo fiasco. Other defendants named in the suit include Jeff Levin, Eddie Ibanez, Danielle Strobel, Jake Greenbaum (Crypto King), and Ophir Bentov (Ben Roth).
The allegations surrounding CryptoZoo being a scam venture started spiking after YouTuber Coffeezilla posted a three-part series accusing CryptoZoo of numerous business malpractices while also calling out Paul, the face of the project. Following the videos becoming viral, Paul reportedly threatened to file a defamation lawsuit over the videos.ย
On January 13, Paul stated that he is no longer looking to sue fellow YouTuber Coffeezilla for defamation over accusations. In one final video, Paul stated that he was going to try to ‘do right’ and offered a recovery plan for players to reclaim $1.3 million.
Cryptozoo, officially released in 2021, was intended to be an NFT-based play-to-earn game. People could purchase crypto used in the game and buy eggs with them. After buying eggs, they could choose to hatch those eggs creating an image of an animal, and different animals could be used to breed hybrid animals.
However, testimonies from investors who bought tokens to purchase eggs and then hatch animals claimed that the system didn’t work as intended and that there was no “daily yield.”
The investors allege CryptoZoo failed to live up to the pay-to-earn promises that Logan Paul made during his marketing and therefore lost several fans’ large amounts of money. Logan Paul had often urged people to buy cryptocurrency collectibles by describing CryptoZoo as a “really fun game that makes you money.”