CoinWorld reported:
The notorious celebrity cryptocurrency promoter Sahil Arora raised $380,000 in presale funds for the purchase of a token he claimed to be the official cryptocurrency of Iggy Azalea. Over a month later, funds began to leave the wallet, but participants still complained they hadn’t received any tokens.
One presale participant told Decrypt, “I sent him 5 SOL ($670) from two different wallets, and he kept it.” Another user said, “I invested 3 SOL ($400) and got nothing. I’m surprised no one has called him out.”
When asked about the status of the presale funds and the reason for the SOL transfers, Arora told Decrypt he was just “shuffling.” However, some of the SOL, worth about $100,000, had been transferred to a centralized exchange, possibly for sale. Arora claimed presale buyers had been “taken care of,” and contrary statements indicated a failure to “follow the events correctly.”
But presale participants told a different story.
Before Australian rapper Iggy Azalea launched her actual token MOTHER, Arora claimed she would launch a meme coin called Iggy through him.
Sahil had been launching celebrity tokens with the likes of Caitlyn Jenner and Rich the Kid. So, when he asked for presale funds for the upcoming IGGY token, his wallet quickly amassed $380,000. Token “presales” are a common strategy among meme coin creators, often disastrous for these early buyers. However, occasionally, early investors reap huge rewards, thus FOMO is born.
Arora launched his IGGY token with little success, reaching a market cap of just under $3 million after its launch on Pump.fun, an on-chain meme coin factory allowing anyone to create their own token easily. Before his token went live, Azalea condemned Arora and launched her official token MOTHER, which hit a market cap of $26 million within 24 hours.
Nevertheless, the IGGY presale wallet still held $380,000.
As meme coin creators shifted public attention to new ventures, the wallet faded from the collective crypto consciousness. That’s when funds started moving.
On June 8, the wallet sent 663 SOL ($89,800) to a wallet starting with “8A9jAg,” which then sent similar amounts to Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. This usually implies cryptocurrency will be sold for fiat currency like USD. Additionally, the presale wallet sent 70 SOL ($9,485) to another wallet (E29zE9), which then sent 93 SOL ($12,500) to Binance.
Last month, the presale wallet moved 2,296 SOL ($311,000). Some funds were transferred to different wallets, some were moved to intermediary wallets before reaching centralized exchanges, and some Solana was used to launch new tokens on Pump.fun.
However, presale participants still hadn’t received the airdropped IGGY tokens.
“I’d love to see him deported from Dubai and jailed, haha, but I doubt it’s likely,” a presale participant told Decrypt via Twitter DM, reflecting on their lack of airdrop. “No airdrop, no refund,” they emphasized.
Even if Arora decided to airdrop the tokens today, IGGY has dropped nearly 98% from its all-time high shortly after launch. On the other hand, Azalea’s official token MOTHER has surged more than 137% in the same period.
When asked if they wanted the airdropped tokens at this point, another presale participant said, “I want my SOL refunded 100%.” “At the time, he still had the motion to send coins to tens of thousands of people, now he’s lost all credibility.”