A class-action lawsuit has been filed by dozens of people who believe they have been scammed by investing in financial products touted by famous influencers, including Dubai-based couple Marc and Nadé Blata, the plaintiffs’ attorney announced on Monday.
Attorney Alexandre Dacos said during a press conference that two class-action lawsuits with 88 class-action lawsuits, in particular for “fraud” and “embezzlement”, were filed with the Paris prosecutor’s office on Friday.
These complaints were filed “against X” but primarily target the practices of influencer couple Marc and Nadé Blata “and the network that allows them not to act alone,” he explained.
Contacted by AFP, Marc and Nadé Blata did not immediately respond.
These complaints follow the pair’s sale and promotion of two financial products, NFT Animoon and trading channel Blatagang, in which thousands of their subscribers have invested without seeing the promised profits, according to the lawyer.
On the one hand it is an NFT, i.e. a virtual work of art, and on the other hand it is a Telegram channel that encourages “copy trading” through investment platforms that offer to imitate purchases made by professional traders in the hope of getting rich easily.
According to Me Dacos, the total damage is estimated at 6.3 million euros, with “thousands of investors having lost between a few hundred and 100,000 euros” in these two projects.
According to her lawyer from the law firm Ziegler & Associés, which specializes in cryptocurrency fraud, it is a so-called “rug pull” scam. This common scam involves a developer attracting investors to a new cryptocurrency project, sometimes using influencer advertising, and then withdrawing before the project is built, leaving investors with worthless currencies.
Marc Blata, with more than 4 million followers on Instagram and active in the promotion of these products, has made a name for himself on social networks with his “Croustis”, which have become revelations in the world of reality TV, rap or Soccer stars are presented.
The procedure is “a first”, according to the AVI collective (help for victims of influencers), which initiated it and brings together several alleged victims of the Blata couple and which states in a press release that “it wants to warn the public about the dangers of Promotions of certain unscrupulous “stars” and “indicating platform passivity” while encouraging other victims to report it.
Rapper Booba launched a crusade against the Blata couple in December 2021, regularly denouncing on social networks the risk of fraud related to products promoted by Dubai influencers.
Another complaint is against influencer Dylan Thiry, who is accused of embezzling funds raised in the form of cyber kittens with his humanitarian association.