Cere Network co-founder Fred Jin and the company’s board have been hit with a $100 million lawsuit in the US alleging fraud tied to a public token launch in 2021.
The lawsuit, filed in a San Francisco federal court by former employee and investor Vivian Liu, claims Jin, his family members and the board carried out a pump-and-dump scheme that stole more than $41 million from investors.
“While certain employees and investors had their Cere Tokens ‘locked’ under the vesting schedule, Jin and his accomplices secretly sold over $41 million in Cere Tokens on various crypto exchanges,”
The complaint alleged.
Liu claims Jin promised ahead of the November 2021 token launch that he and early investors could not sell their tokens until months later, but instead transferred proceeds into personal wallets and shell companies.
The complaint also alleges Jin worked with market maker Gotbit to use trading bots to inflate volumes and conceal the alleged fraud, while gambling millions of dollars in risky crypto trades.
The lawsuit is the second filed against Cere Network this month, following a separate action in Delaware by co-founder Kenzi Wang accusing Jin of misappropriating more than $58 million in company assets.
The Cere Network token is trading at a fraction of a cent, down about 99.9% from its November 2021 peak of $0.47, according to CoinGecko.
At the time of reporting, Cere Network price was $0.0003384.