NFT Holders Sue Gallery and Artist, Claiming Promised Perks Were a “Rug Pull” Scam
A collective of 36 NFT holders has initiated legal action against an art gallery and its artist, alleging that they failed to deliver on commitments related to a promised private club in the metaverse.
The lawsuit, filed on October 9 in New York federal court, describes the project associated with Eden Gallery and artist Gal Yosef as a “rug pull” scam.
The NFT collection, known as the Meta Eagle Club, sold 12,000 unique eagle NFTs and amassed approximately $13 million between February 2022 and November 2023. The plaintiffs claim that despite the project’s updates, no meaningful progress was made toward building the Meta Eagle Club.
In their complaint, the group asserts that the developers lacked essential experience in blockchain technology and smart contracts. They were promised various benefits, including access to raffles for exclusive events, but received only a few tickets and limited experiences.
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Additionally, the lawsuit indicates that a decision was made on January 12, 2023, to reallocate funds meant for the original roadmap into alternative uses, citing market challenges as the reason for this shift. The plaintiffs argue that this misled investors into purchasing NFTs based on inflated expectations, which ultimately resulted in losses as the club’s value never materialized.
The lawsuit accuses Eden Gallery and Yosef of fraud and unjust enrichment, seeking damages and attorney’s fees. Neither the gallery nor the artist has commented on the situation.
This lawsuit is part of a broader trend of legal challenges facing the NFT market, which has seen several cases related to buyer dissatisfaction and regulatory scrutiny, amid reports indicating a significant decline in the number of active NFT collections.
Alexander Stefanov
Reporter at CoinsPress
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coinspress and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
