Lime Co-Founder Brad Bao Named In $100M Federal RICO Lawsuit Alleging Crypto Fraud

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A federal lawsuit filed in California accuses Brad Bao, the co-founder of electric scooter company Lime, and other Cere Network executives of orchestrating a $100 million cryptocurrency pump-and-dump scheme. The complaint alleges the defendants engaged in insider token sales, used shell companies, and deployed automated trading bots to mask the insider sell-off, resulting in a 99.7% collapse of the Cere token price.

Why it matters

This case represents one of the highest-profile RICO actions to hit the crypto sector, drawing a direct line between a marquee name in tech and what plaintiffs describe as a sprawling, multi-year fraud. It raises concerns about the lack of oversight and potential for manipulation in the largely unregulated cryptocurrency market.

The details

The lawsuit was filed by investor Vivian Liu and Goopal Digital Ltd. against Bao, Cere Network CEO Fred Jin, and other executives. It alleges the defendants misrepresented insider token holdings, transferred large quantities to exchanges, and sold aggressively in the weeks after the November 2021 ICO, causing the Cere token price to collapse by 99.7%. The complaint also claims an additional $16.6 million was siphoned from corporate wallets and lost in speculative DeFi investments.

• Cere Network launched and raised approximately $42.96 million from over 5,000 retail investors in November 2021.
• The Cere token hit an all-time high of $0.47 on launch day, but by the end of December 2021 had collapsed to $0.06.
• The Cere token currently trades at roughly $0.0012, a 99.7% decline from its peak.

What’s next

The judge in the case will decide on a future date whether to allow the lawsuit to proceed.