I was recently identified as the latest figure under suspicion of leading another 'rug pull' scam in the cryptocurrency industry, former New York City Mayor **Eric Adams**. Accused of launching a meme coin under the pretense of combating antisemitism and anti-American sentiment, while promoting blockchain education, he allegedly withdrew hundreds of millions of dollars in liquidity once the coin's price peaked, leaving investors with massive losses. This has led to investors suffering massive losses.
What happened?
Adams, who served as New York City mayor from 2022 to 2025 and once referred to himself as the "Bitcoin (BTC) market," announced the launch of the $NYC token on X (formerly Twitter), describing it as an initiative to counter hate speech and promote blockchain education.
The token quickly gained attention shortly after launch, breaking through a $50 million market cap on the Solana (SOL) blockchain within just a few hours.
However, on-chain analytics firm **Lookonchain** reported that Adams withdrew approximately 3.18 million USDC from the liquidity pool when the price reached its peak. This caused the token's value to crash by over 80% in less than 30 minutes.
A trader known as Dr6s2o lost approximately $473,500 with a 63.5% loss within about 20 minutes during the panic sell-off.
This incident has faced criticism from cryptocurrency analysts as a typical rug pull. The project allegedly heavily promoted its token to attract investment funds, then withdrew liquidity and effectively abandoned the project.
Solana blockchain records captured evidence of large withdrawals from wallets linked to Adams and other related wallets shortly after the token's launch.
Former mayor Adams has not yet publicly responded to these allegations. However, this incident has reignited questions about his past financial transactions, including those related to federal investigations into campaign finance issues during his tenure.
This scandal added another stain to Adams' tumultuous post-tenure journey, which included being charged with corruption offenses in 2025 and stepping down from office.
A blockchain analyst told Yellow.com that the suspicious rug pull pattern seen in the $NYC token closely resembles the behavior observed in other political figure-backed meme coins, noting how public interest campaigns are mixed with financial exploitation.
The allegations against Adams have been seen as adding his name to a growing list of celebrities and influencers recently accused of similar scams.
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Especially on platforms like Pump.fun, where entry barriers are low, meme coin launches and collapses are happening extremely quickly, causing rug pulls to explode in number.
Celebrity rug pull and controversial cases
Below are examples of rug pulls allegedly involving public figures.
Kaitlyn Jenner ($JENNER, 2024): Jenner, an Olympic athlete and reality TV star, launched a token on Pump.fun, which surged to a market cap of $46 million before crashing 65% following a large-scale sell-off from linked wallets.
Investors filed class-action lawsuits alleging fraud, with some plaintiffs reporting losses of up to $50,000.
Jason Derulo ($JASON, 2024): Jason Derulo's meme coin surged shortly after launch but crashed after sell-offs from wallets associated with the project.
DeRulo admitted to selling part of the supply for marketing purposes, but was embroiled in pump-and-dump conspiracy allegations after a promoter confessed to dumping $180,000 worth of tokens.
Haley Welch ($HAWK, 2024): Welch, known as the "Hawk Tuah Girl," boosted her meme coin's market cap to $490 million by promoting it, but the price crashed 90–95% within hours due to coordinated sell-offs from a small number of wallets holding 80% of the supply.
One investor reported losing $33,000—his lifetime savings.
Rich the Kid (Anonymous Token, 2024): The coin launched by rapper Rich the Kid through a promoter crashed after liquidity was withdrawn and massive sell-offs occurred.
He publicly blamed the promoter for executing a pump-and-dump scheme without authorization, which triggered the price collapse.
Logan Paul (CryptoZoo, ongoing 2021–2025): Logan Paul's NFT-based game project faced rug pull suspicions due to failure to deliver promised features, became involved in a class-action lawsuit in 2023, and the litigation continued through 2025.
Although Paul proposed a refund, he could not avoid criticism for misleading investors.
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