In 2024, Dubai-based investor and promoter Sahil Arora executed several high-profile token schemes involving celebrities, leveraging his Instagram following and connections to generate substantial profits.
Strategy and Celebrities
Arora issued tokens tied to well-known figures such as Caitlyn Jenner, Floyd Mayweather, Amber Rose, Sunny Leone, and Iggy Azalea. Using a platform called Pump Fun, he orchestrated campaigns through direct messages to celebrities, offering significant payments in exchange for promoting the token. The core of Arora's scheme involved manipulating the token's price through hype and celebrity endorsements. Once the token was launched and its price was artificially inflated through celebrity tweets, Arora sold off his substantial holdings, causing the token’s value to plummet.
Financial Gains and Discrepancies
According to reports from Bubblemaps, Arora earned around $30 million through these schemes. Independent blockchain sleuth ZachXBT, however, disputes these figures, suggesting they were inflated due to an error involving the misattribution of a Poloniex wallet address to Arora. ZachXBT's revised estimate suggests Arora's actual earnings were between $2 and $3 million.
Tracking and Cash-Outs
Bubblemaps has traced over 40 crypto addresses associated with Arora. These addresses were used to manage and manipulate the token supply. Typically, Arora held between 25-40% of the token’s total supply in various addresses. After the token launch, he consolidated these holdings and moved the proceeds to a main wallet, identified as 7Ci23i82. Funds were then regularly transferred to centralized exchanges.
Sahil Arora's methods were lucrative, despite disputes over the accuracy of his earnings. The involvement of celebrities in such schemes often leads to questionable project legitimacy and legal issues.
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