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Caitlyn Jenner, former Olympian and media personality, is at the center of a legal battle after a group of investors filed a class-action lawsuit accusing her of promoting an unregistered cryptocurrency, the JENNER token.
UK and Romanian citizens Naeem Azad and Mihai Caluseru filed the lawsuit in a California federal court on November 13, alleging that Jenner and her manager, Sophia Hutchins, solicited funds from financially inexperienced investors, leading to significant financial losses.
The plaintiffs claim they lost over $56,000 investing in the JENNER token, launched on Ethereum and Solana.
Jenner’s Misleading Statements Attracted Investors
They assert that Jenner’s misleading statements and omissions enticed them to invest in what they describe as an unregistered security.
According to the lawsuit, Jenner failed to disclose critical information about the token, leaving buyers unable to assess the risks involved.
Originally introduced on Solana in May through the memecoin platform Pump.fun, JENNER quickly became embroiled in controversy.
Jenner and other high-profile figures accused collaborator Sahil Arora of scamming them, prompting the token’s relaunch on Ethereum.
Despite its new iteration, the token has seen a dramatic loss in value, with its market capitalization dropping from nearly $7.5 million to just $170,000.
Trading volumes have also dwindled.
The lawsuit further alleges that Jenner made lofty claims about the token’s market potential, only for its value to plummet following Arora’s sale of a significant portion of his holdings.
The plaintiffs argue that Jenner’s failure to warn investors of such risks, compounded by her alleged personal financial gains, violated securities laws.
Adding to the controversy, the Ethereum version of the token reportedly included a 3% transaction tax, which the lawsuit claims Jenner did not adequately disclose.
This tax, according to the plaintiffs, enriched Jenner while leaving investors with mounting losses.
Azad and Caluseru’s legal action accuses Jenner and Hutchins of securities fraud, common law fraud, and aiding and abetting fraud.
Meme Coins Surge as Analysts Predict Looming Altcoin Season
On November 14, meme coins led the crypto market’s gains, with Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT), Pepe (PEPE), Dogwifhat (WIF), and Brett (BRETT) recording the highest increases among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap.
PNUT skyrocketed by 122.5%, reaching a market cap of over $2 billion, while PEPE rose 75%, achieving a market cap of $9.4 billion and an all-time high of $0.00002457.
Other meme coins, including WIF and BRETT, posted gains between 20-40%, while Dogecoin and Shiba Inu saw modest increases of 5.4% and 5.9%, respectively.
The surge contributed to a 9% rise in the altcoin sector’s market cap, which reached $126.6 billion.
The rally aligns with Bitcoin hitting new highs and Donald Trump’s recent election win, sparking speculation about an imminent altcoin season.
Crypto analyst Miles Deutscher suggested that the market is still in Bitcoin’s price discovery phase, with alt season expected after Bitcoin’s dominance wanes.
He noted that a stronger Bitcoin performance would likely result in a more aggressive capital rotation into altcoins.
Contrarily, analyst Ash Crypto argued that Bitcoin dominance, now at 60.80%, might have peaked, predicting that alt season will begin once Bitcoin starts losing ground.