Halston Thayer thought he'd made a wise investment when he paid over a half-million dollars for an absolutely magnificent illustration of a nude Pepe the Frog bathing in a pond. After all, a one-of-a-kind Pepe NFT had recently sold at Sotheby's for $3.6 million
Pepe's creator Matt Furie, who issued the bathing Pepe NFT, implied in his advertisement for the sale that the NFT would be the only one sold through Furie's PegzDAO: "500 cards issued, 400 burned, 99 will remain in the PegzDAO, and ONE is being auctioned here."
After Thayer bought the NFT, though, Furie allegedly gave away 46 identical cards for free. Now Thayer is suing Matt Furie and PegzDAO for "unfair, deceptive, untrue, and misleading advertising and wrongful actions."
The lawsuit claims that shortly after Thayer paid $537,084 (150 ETH) for the "rare Pepe" and "unique asset," Furie "released 46 of the 99 remaining Pepe NFTs, significantly devaluing Plaintiff's Pepe NFT to less than $30,000.00, hundreds of thousands of dollars less than what he paid for this purportedly 'unique asset.' Upon information and belief, those 46 NFTs were given away for free."
Furie hasn't commented about the lawsuit on Twitter but continues to advertise Pepe-themed NFTs there.