Yuga Labs seeks to seize crypto assets held by Internet celebrity Jeremy Cahen

Yuga Labs has filed a surrender order with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to seize the crypto assets held by Internet celebrity Jeremy Cahen, who goes by the name Pauly0x. The assets, which are spread across four wallets including Bitcoin, Ethereum and PEPE, totaled nearly $400,000 as of last October.
In July 2022, Yuga Labs sued Cahen and artist Ryder Ripps, alleging that they had infringed on Yuga Labs' trademarks through the sale of the Ryder Ripps Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT series. The court upheld Yuga's claims, awarding it more than $1.50 million in damages in October 2023. The following February, the total damages increased to nearly $9 million, including $7 million in attorneys' fees and post-judgment interest. The final judgment was issued on February 2, 2024 and became effective on March 3. Cahen did not pay a bond or obtain a stay of execution, which allowed Yuga Labs to begin post-judgment asset recovery.
The company has since issued subpoenas to Cahen's accountants and levied taxes on banks and crypto platforms such as Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo, Robinhood, Coinbase, Binance, and Gemini (executed by U.S. Marshals). Court records show that Cahen transferred $396,946 worth of cryptocurrency to evade Gemini's taxes. According to Yuga, the transfer occurred the day after the levies went into effect, and Gemini had not had time to freeze his accounts, indicating that he intended to evade asset seizures.