In a post on X (formerly Twitter) today, Logan Paul announced that he will be buying back CryptoZoo NFTs, and that he has filed a cross-claim against the CryptoZoo team for fraud.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of scammers in web3. One would hope that somebody as high profile as Logan Paul would vet out the people he works with better, but the filing of this answer and crossclaim paints a picture that he relied mainly on personal referrals and recommendations. It also makes it clear that there was no formal entity (LLC, corporation, etc) behind CryptoZoo. That may be bad news for Paul even despite his buy-back efforts – the default rule is that if there's no entity then the group is treated as a partnership, with equal rights and risks.
At best, the buy-back will help Paul by removing a few class members from the pool. The terms and conditions for the buy-back form include language that releases Logan Paul and the CryptoZoo team from any liability.
By accepting these Terms, you acknowledge and agree that you are waiving any actual or anticipated claims against PAUL, as well as against any related personnel, affiliates, agents, partners, employees, service providers, or representatives, for monetary or equitable relief arising out of or in connection with CryptoZoo, including but not limited to this Buy-Back, your purchase of any $ZOO tokens, or your purchase of any CryptoZoo NFT. You further acknowledge that the Buy-Back does not constitute an admission by PAUL of your legal entitlement to any amount, nor does it constitute an admission of any responsibility in connection with any actual or anticipated claims relating to CryptoZoo.
This is a savvy move by Logan and his team. While not a perfect fix for anybody involved, this gives would-be-class members an easy off-ramp while litigation takes its grand ol' time, and ensures some amount of predictability for Paul.
That all said, while it's admirable that Logan is buying back the CryptoZoo NFTs, most NFT rug-pull scam victims won't be as fortunate as CryptoZoo holders. As we approach the SEC's likely approval of BTC spot ETFs in the coming days, the blockchain industry still has serious work to do to clean up its image. The best thing we average users can do is to live by the cliché and do our own research.