Serena Williams has been named in a class action lawsuit about her participation in the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT company.
The rise of NFTs last year prompted many celebrities to jump on board for a quick profit. We've seen many athletes participate in many kinds of NFT operations and Serena Williams promoted Bored Apes. The lawsuit claims that celebrities promoted the NFTs at artificially inflated prices without disclosing their personal stakes or other interests.
The lawsuit reads:
"Defendants' promotional campaign was wildly successful,
generating billions of dollars in sales and re-sales. The manufactured
celebrity endorsements and misleading promotions regarding the launch of
an entire BAYC ecosystem (the so-called Otherside metaverse) were able
to artificially increase the interest in and price of the BAYC NFTs
during the Relevant Period, causing investors to purchase these losing
investments at drastically inflated prices. Promoting the BAYC NFTs on
their social media platforms and through their reported conduct, [the
celebrities] provided assistance that was a substantial factor in
causing the NAYC NFTs price to both surge and do so long enough to allow
all Defendants to sell their BAYC NFTs for huge profits at the expense
of their followers and investors."