Two US citizens have been found guilty of carrying out a rug pull after successfully launching NFT collections, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.#MarketDownturn
Berman Jerry Nowlin Jr., 21, and Devin Alan Roden, 25, created two NFT collections, UndeadApes and Undead Lady Apes, on the Solana blockchain.
Nowlin acted as a developer for both projects, while Roden was engaged in sales through Discord and X. The price of the tokens increased significantly over the course of several weeks. For example, UndeadApes tokens rose from $5 to $360.
The defendants took advantage of the success of the first two collections and announced the launch of the third series of NFT Undead Tombstone in April 2022. They made misleading statements, including regarding partnerships with other projects and the amount of crypto assets reinvested.