Stephanie Douse 
Laurent Correira’s NFT rug pull happens to be the latest in 2022, with speculations that he allegedly bought Doodle, CloneX and Mutant Ape NFTs.
The mastermind behind the “Billionaire Dog” NFT rug pull, Laurent Correira, a French TV star was exposed by popular on-chain sleuth Zachxbt via a Tweet made on Monday 4th of April.
The “Billionaire Dog” NFT rug pull
The “Billionaire Dog” NFT project started in December 2021, with personalities such as Correira promoting it and promising freebies and luxury automobiles to investors. It was supposed to be a collection of 6500 NFTs for 0.1 ETH presale and 0.2 ETH public sales at first.
However, due to poor demand, they had to limit the supply to 2000 NFTs. The website and Discord server was removed a week after the minting, and the crew vanished.
If there was any prospect of tracing down the $960k revenues from the deal, Correira himself resurrected it. Correira got over $400k in his public wallet, according to on-chain statistics.
Because he bought NFTs like a Mutant Ape, Doodle, and CloneX with the same wallet, it was easy to track him down. He even shared the news on social media, changing his Instagram profile photo to the NFT.
Based on his social media activity, Correira looks to be based in Dubai, and Zachxbt has tagged the Dubai Police on Twitter in an attempt to apprehend him. However, given the uncontrolled nature of NFTs, this is a remote prospect.
Correira was more of a mastermind than an influencer
Zachxbt ‘s findings reveal that Correira was more of a mastermind than an influencer as he clearly used his influencer market to lure his victims.
This incident highlights the necessity for rules, particularly for NFTs. Several celebrities and influencers have been involved in marketing NFT initiatives in recent months, but the rug has been removed.
Because crypto projects frequently employ influencer marketing, several governments, like Australia, are attempting to regulate financial influencers.
While Zachxbt may have exposed the entire effort as a ruse, other evidence suggests Correira was more of a genius than an influencer. In an interview in January, a Dubai businessman called Mohammed Amin disclosed the swindle.
Then he accused Correira of defrauding him and other investors who purchased NFTs on the basis of a number of promises.
Correira was accused of luring them in with his glamorous social media life, saying that celebrities such as Kanye West and LeBron James were also involved, although this hasn’t been confirmed. But he vanished soon after, taking with him their $500,000 in cryptocurrency.
Since then, Amin has alleged that he and other victims have been compiling evidence in order to pursue a lawsuit in the United Arab Emirates. Zachxbt’s fresh knowledge might bolster their case even further.