Cases & Investigations
Eden Gallery / Meta Eagle Club NFT Litigation

Wolf Popper is co-counsel with Burwick Law PLLC to named plaintiff Tekla Balfour-Browne and the proposed class of all persons who purchased Meta Eagle Club Non-Fungible Tokens (“NFTs”) in a litigation against defendants Eden Fine Art NY Inc. d/b/a Eden Gallery, Cathia Klimovsky, Guy Martinovsky, Gal Yosef, and Cetra Art Corporation. The class action complaint alleges claims against the Defendants for breach of contract and, in the alternative, breach of the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing in that contract, unjust enrichment, and violations of New York General Business Law (“GBL”) Section 349
 
The class action complaint alleges that defendants told the world that they were going to start a private, members-only club based on the digital art made by artist Defendant Gal Yosef. They called it the “Meta Eagle Club.” Defendants promised the Meta Eagle Club would be great and that members would enjoy exclusive benefits—members could enjoy trips, giveaways, and parties at Eden Gallery locations across the world. One of the best parts of this club is that the Defendants would keep making more and more art to populate an online world called the “Galyverse.” As a result, the value of club membership would increase, and members would receive dividend-like digital assets as long as they were members.
 
To become a member in the Meta Eagle Club, Plaintiffs and other investors like them had to use the cryptocurrency Ether, the native cryptocurrency of the blockchain platform Ethereum, to purchase NFTs. These Meta Eagle Club NFTs were digital images created by Yosef, showing anthropomorphized eagles in various outfits and costumes. The defendants sold 12,000 Meta Eagle Club NFTS in February 2022 and collectively raised in Ether the equivalent of over $13 million (the “Mint”). The Meta Eagle Club NFTs served as membership cards.
 
The comlaint alleges that by creating the Meta Eagle Club, promising exclusive benefits in exchange forjoining the club, and requiring the purchase of Meta Eagle Club NFTs to join the club, the Defendants made an offer of a contract for club membership and the associated benefits. Plaintiff and the Class accepted the Defendants’ offer by purchasing the Meta Eagle Club NFTs. However, the Defendants did not keep their contractual promises. The Defendants held only two events and provided only a handful of other benefits to a handful of club members before ceasing all club benefits. Meta Eagle Club holders found themselves holding worthless digital assets. Defendants breached the terms of the contract or, in the alternative, breached the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing in that contract, damaging Plaintiff and the Class.
 
In the alternative, the complaint alleges that the Defendants actions constitute unjust enrichment or violations of GBL § 349. The Meta Eagle Club was a “rug pull”— where project founders raise millions and then abandon their commitments. Defendants made deceptive statements designed to induce Plaintiff and the Class to purchase Meta Eagle Club NFTs in the Mint, and to prop the value of Meta Eagle Club NFTs up after the Mint. In truth, as alleged herein, at the time the statements were made and at the time of the Mint, Defendants had no intention of developing the Meta Eagle  Club. In fact, Defendants had no plans for the future of Meta Eagle Club NFTs aside from profiting off the excitement around the digital asset.
 
The case is Balfour-Browne v. Eden Fine Art NY Inc. d/b/a Eden Gallery., No. 25-cv-1142, pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
 

• Phone: Chet B. Waldman - 212-451-9624
• Phone: Joshua W. Ruthizer - 212-451-9668
• Phone: Matthew Insley-Pruitt - 212-451-9621
• Phone: Terrence Zhang – 212-451-9663
• Email: Outreach@wolfpopper.com