Hunter Biden's convictionon federal gun charges created a lot of volatility in Biden-themed Solana meme coins. The Jeo Boden (BODEN) token surged by 26% before dropping by 6%. The Hunter Boden (HUNTBODEN) token experienced very similar price movement throughout the past 24 hours. In other legal news, PleasrDAO is suing Martin Shkreli after he live-streamed a unique Wu-Tang Clan album. Additionally, sports stars Robert Gronkowski, Victor Oladipo, and Landon Cassill have settled a lawsuit related to promoting Voyager Digital, and will be paying more than $2.4 million in monetary relief.
Hunter Biden's Conviction Sparks Meme Volatility
The prices of Biden-themed Solana meme coins surged and then fell again after the conviction of United States President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, on three federal gun charges. Jeo Boden (BODEN), a token with a deliberately misspelled reference to the president, saw a 26% increase, reaching almost $0.20 in just five hours of the Delaware federal court jury's verdict on Jun. 11.
CoinGecko data also indicated a 116% rise in the Hunter Boden (HUNTBODEN) token to a daily high of $0.0022, while the First Lady-themed Jill Boden (JILLBODEN) token experienced a 9% decline.
However, the rally was short-lived as BODEN and HUNTBODEN dropped by 6% and nearly 54%, respectively. JILLBODEN continued its decline, falling by 14.7%. At press time, BONEN’s price recovered and was trading at $0.1892 after its price was able to climb by just over 11% in the past 24 hours.
Jeo Boden 1D price chart (Source: CoinMarketCap)
Hunter Biden, who is a recovering crack cocaine addict, was found guilty of lying on a form to buy a Colt revolver in 2018 by falsely declaring that he was not a drug user. He also faced charges for keeping the gun for 11 days, and now faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
Interestingly, the misspelled Solana meme coin Doland Tremp (TREMP), which refers to President Biden’s political rival Donald Trump, also fell over 12% to $0.93.
These price fluctuations happened alongside a broader market downturn. Top meme tokens like Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and Dogwifhat (WIF) all experienced drops of 1% or more, while PEPE was the only major meme coin to gain over 10%.
PleasrDAO Sues Martin Shkreli
In other legal news, PleasrDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization known for collecting physical and digital art, filed a lawsuit against Martin Shkreli, who is also known as 'pharma bro.'
The lawsuit stems from Shkreli hosting an X spaces event on Jun. 9, during which he allegedly live-streamed what was believed to be a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album, that was bought by PleasrDAO in 2021, to listeners in the virtual meeting room. PleasrDAO now accuses Shkreli of causing irreparable monetary harm, and that he improperly retained copies of the album's data and files at the time of forfeiture and has released or intends to release them to the public.
Shkreli has denounced the lawsuit and claims that PleasrDAO members do not support the litigation and were not even given the opportunity to vote on it.
In 2021, PleasrDAO acquired the Wu-Tang album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, from an asset forfeiture auction for approximately $4.75 million in two separate transactions. Wu-Tang created the album to counter the increased digitization and commercialization of music.
Shkreli previously owned the album after paying $2 million for the unique recording. However, after his conviction and sentencing for securities fraud, Shkreli was forced to surrender the album to authorities in 2018.
Sports Stars Settle Voyager Crypto Lawsuit
Meanwhile, a Florida judge has given preliminary approval to a legal settlement involving three sports stars that are accused of promoting the crypto firm Voyager Digital. The settlement was approved on Jun. 10 by Judge Roy Altman of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, and allows NFL star Robert Gronkowski, NBA player Victor Oladipo, and NASCAR driver Landon Cassill to collectively pay over $2.4 million in monetary relief. Gronkowski will contribute $1.9 million of this amount.
The class-action lawsuit was initially filed in 2022 against former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. It alleged that Cuban misrepresented Voyager’s services, which led to financial losses for inexperienced investors when the firm went bankrupt. The proposed settlement would resolve the case for Gronkowski, Oladipo, and Cassill, but not for Cuban or the Mavericks.
This lawsuit is separate from other legal proceedings involving Voyager debtors since 2022. Voyager has been in bankruptcy court and has dealt with claims over funds at Three Arrows Capital and the defunct crypto exchange FTX.
In April, a judge approved a motion for FTX to relinquish rights to $450 million, which will be used to compensate Voyager creditors. In 2023, a federal judge ordered Voyager and its affiliates to pay more than $1.6 billion in monetary relief to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
Additionally, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Federal Trade Commission have filed lawsuits against former Voyager CEO Stephen Ehrlich for fraudulent statements about the company's services. These cases are still ongoing.
What Happened to Voyager Digital?
At its peak, Voyager Digital had around 3.5 million users and $5.9 billion in assets, which positioned it as a big player in the crypto lending and trading sector. The company catered to a broad base of individual investors, with 97% of its clients holding less than $10,000 on the platform. Voyager was one of the few digital asset brokerages listed on stock markets, although in Canada rather than the U.S.
Voyager's outlook appeared very optimistic until a sudden downturn. In 2021, CEO Steve Ehrlich was still extremely confident in the market's stability, and even compared it favorably to the volatile market of 2017. However, the crypto market experienced a severe crash in 2022, revealing Voyager's serious vulnerabilities. The company had made large unsecured loans to Three Arrows Capital (3AC), a hedge fund that defaulted on its obligations and whose founders turned into fugitives.
The collapse of 3AC was a huge blow to Voyager. On Jul. 1, the company froze customer funds and soon after filed for bankruptcy protection. Ehrlich described the situation as a "run on the bank," but maintained that Voyager has a viable future under Chapter 11 reorganization.
Overall, Voyager's downfall can be attributed to its poor lending practices despite its success in attracting deposits. The company was heavily affected by the collapse of the Terra blockchain ecosystem and the subsequent crypto market contagion. Voyager tried to hedge its risks as the market declined, but this ultimately failed.
