Bored Ape NFT Lawsuit: Sotheby’s Added as Defendant, Massive Buyer Revealed to be FTX

The controversy behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT is not yet over, and in fact, its lawsuit is adding another defendant to the case, with Sotheby's, the renowned auction house, caught up in this issue. The addition of Sotheby's is due to its alleged misleading claims and "rooted in deception" which helped boost the prices of the tokens.

Alongside this, the "traditional collector" which Sotheby's claimed to have purchased the Bored Ape NFT is none other than the defunct crypto-exchange company, FTX.

Bored Ape NFT Lawsuit Adds Sotheby's as Defendant

Ars Technica reported that the lawsuit against Bored Ape saw a significant addition now, with renowned auctioneer, Sotheby's, now added as a defendant to the case. The class-action suit against Bored Ape now claims that Sotheby's actions have led investors to purchase BAYC tokens, as the auctioneer brought an "air of legitimacy" to the products.

Through Sotheby's actions, it led investors to take interest, also allegedly building hype for the said tokens.

During the Ape In! auction back in 2021, Sotheby's sold as much as $24.4 million for the NFT collection from Bored Ape, beating expectations of only $12 to $18 million.

While previously, Bored Ape would fetch massive hundreds of thousands of dollars up to millions in auctions before, it is only valued at around $50,000 on average in today's prices.

FTX was the Collector Which Bought the Bored Apes

Sotheby's also allegedly claimed that a "traditional" collector has crossed over to NFTs, one that led to massive interest from different types of investors and collectors in the market.

However, this said "traditional collector" is none other than FTX, with the wallet leading to their account. Now, the case is claiming the deep ties of FTX and Yuga Labs that mutually benefit both parties.

Bored Ape Yacht Club's Lawsuit and Yuga Labs

The NFT craze of 2021 brought the world to a different kind of fixation on digital assets, one that set aside cryptocurrency for the time being, as it was focused on the tokens. Bored Ape Yacht Club is among those who thrived during the early days of NFTs, with the company claiming that these have massive values, with one fetching up to $3 million.

What is even more iconic with Bored Ape is that it logged the "largest mint in history" for the entire world and industry of NFTs. This specific event led to Bored Ape causing the crypto coin, Ethereum, to crash as it minted the token which is based on the Ethereum blockchain, centering on the metaverse project known as "Otherside."

Despite its massive operations and fame in the past years, Bored Ape and Yuga Labs are now disgraced by the world, especially with the massive alleged promises it made that is no longer existing now. Amidst this prosecution against Bored Ape, the latest developments bring more context to the case, with Sotheby's involvement now a massive focus in the lawsuit.