Squiggles NFT Suspicious Launch Activity

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Squiggles NFT Project

Squiggles is an NFT project featuring "humans, apes, flame heads, clouds, clocks, beakers, and skulls", with some similarities to the popular Doodles collection. The project originally planned to launch with 10,000 NFTs available to their community. However, shortly before launch, a 60-page dossier was published alleging that the project was actually run by serial scammers and much of the initial volume was faked. The ability to buy and sell the NFTs on OpenSea was disabled, and at least on Twitter account was suspended. The project ultimately lowered the size of the collection to 5,000 NFTs and has continued to promote a similar concept.

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

About Squiggles

"Squiggles are a set of 10,000 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) comprised of hundreds of unique visual features and character bases. The collection is currently publicly shown to contain but is not limited to: humans, apes, flame heads, clouds, clocks, beakers, and skulls. Hundreds of unique features, costumes, and colors of the artist's palette are also included in the Squiggles collection."

"Building a strong and healthy community is the first step in ensuring the long-term success of our project; Having a powerful community that supports and backs the founding team is essential in making certain we can accomplish all of our goals. In our effort to establish a strong bond between the founding team and community members, we plan on hosting AMA’s, organizing events, and maintaining 100% transparency at all times. Our community will continue to grow and flourish. We could not be more excited to bring you along this journey."

"This is our version of creating a genuine and effective passive income source for Squiggle holders. Our current plan is to set aside 15% of all secondary market royalty revenue into a Squiggles treasury. Holders will have the opportunity to apply for positions within the community. Different positions can generate revenue paid out on a bi-weekly basis as holders would be able to contribute to the project with their strong suits. Not only would this create stronger community dynamics, but it would also ensure long-term stability of the project. If we all work together as a team and hold each other accountable, we will be The Unstoppable Force in the NFT space."

"Owning a Squiggle will have numerous benefits. Our team is keen on the continued effort in taking care of our holders. We want to continue to maintain an environment where the best interest of our holders is in alignment with our best interest.We plan to always monitor the best upcoming NFT launches, along with feedback from our holders to find projects that may have exclusive whitelists. We plan to make our best effort in providing these whitelist spots to our holders. This way our holders won’t need to put effort in other communities in order to obtain a spot on their Whitelist!"

"This is something that has not been done in the NFT space, and it is our way of paving a new road in the greater community. We are making a shift from discouraging derivative based projects, to motivating people in getting creative and inspiring others with their own work. In doing so, we are allowing holders to have full IP rights to their Squiggle, and having free range to do whatever they want with it so long as it meets our guidelines. Rather than restricting people in creating derivative collections to Squiggles, we plan to act as a launchpad for them! Why you may ask? Because we thoroughly believe in the decentralization of the NFT space. Furthermore, we believe that any derivative collection will only bring more eyes and attention to its parent collection! Win-win.We also don’t plan on ONLY helping derivative based projects. We plan on establishing a launchpad for ANY type of project that our community presents to us.This is how we plan on supporting these projects:We plan to reserve 15% of all secondary market sales to help fund derivative projects that our team and community likes the most! All projects are welcome, but we obviously can’t fund all projects. This is our form of paying homage to our biggest supporters. We would be funding and using our influence to launch any project that’s been approved by the Squiggle Launchpad. More information on our launchpad is planned to roll out in the weeks prior to launch!ctions to Squiggles, we plan to act as a launchpad for them!"

"The Squiggle Store is planned to be a marketplace where you can buy both physical goods as well as digital, metaverse-ready items. We plan on having everything from t-shirts to coffee mugs for all our supporters to rock! Squiggle holders would be able to receive discounts from all items in our store as well!"

"Squiggles is a collection of 10,000 NFTs that was to drop this week. It had all the signs of a successful project, accumulating over 230,000 followers on Twitter, and a community of 284,000 on Discord."

"This project garnered a large amount of hype in the NFT space, having over 200k followers on Twitter and over 350k on their Discord. Many comparisons were made to the project Doodles, which is a blue-chip NFT collection, although it must be disclosed many derivatives have been created from Doodles.

The thing that made Squiggles stand out from the rest of the derivatives was its extremely high mint price, around $3100. As per any Dutch Auction style, the price reduced by 0.05ETH every 10 minutes until the NFT had been sold. Assuming the project sold its 10,000 collection at the 1ETH mark, it would have pocked over $3 million from primary market sales alone. This caused confusion and led to reports from the community of the project being a cash grab or rug pull.

The team behind the project had been shrouded in mystery, never revealing their true identity on the Squiggles website. Due to this, rumours began to circulate that the project was purely a rug, and a 57-page document outlining this was published. The original document was removed, but many copies had been created and circulated and shared on social media platforms such as Twitter. Within this document, which has reportedly been sent to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for investigation, the team behind Squiggles was also part of NFT rug pulls in the past. The other projects they are supposedly a part of have been: League of Sacred Devils, League of Divine Beings, Vault of Gems, Lucky Buddhas, Dirty Dogs, Sinful Souls and Faceless. It also revealed their real names, claiming that the team was made up of Gabriel Hay, Gavin Mayo and Ali Saghi."

"However last week, an anonymous person published a 60-page dossier explaining that ‘Squiggles’ was all a scam. It alleged that the faces behind the project were not in fact the people behind it, but rather a shadowy group of scammers who have pulled off several rug pulls in the past."

"Rumours of the project being a rug circulated after a 60-page report was published. The original document has since been deleted, but copies have been re-shared across Twitter. Within the document, it reported that the team behind Squiggles was behind many other ‘successful’ rug pull NFT projects before. The reported list is as follows: League of Sacred Devils, League of Divine Beings, Vault of Gems, Lucky Buddhas, Dirty Dogs, Sinful Souls and Faceless. It also revealed their real names, claiming that the team was made up of Gabriel Hay, Gavin Mayo and Ali Saghi, despite all of the team on the Squiggles website not revealing their true names. A copy of the full document which has been re-shared can be found here."

"At face value, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to buy high and sell low, unless the intended consequence was creating an illusion of demand and high volume. With $20 million at stake, it makes sense to burn 1 or 2 million along the way.

It may not have been possible for the information to reach all potential victims on time, which makes it quite likely that the scammers still made a small profit.

However, the big $20 million pay day there were anticipating never came to pass. In fact, they were delisted on OpenSea less than 24 hours later. The listing however still appeas to be live on LooksRare."

"The collection was removed from Opensea in the late hours of [February 10th, 2022], which was first reported by Twitter user @Helloimmorgan, who’s a big name in the space. Squiggles posted on Twitter saying “Squiggles community is very strong We love you all. <3”. Then, the project was removed from the premier NFT platform. Then, no more than 20 minutes later, the Tweet was deleted."

"As a community who experienced a rug ourselves, we know how the Squiggles fam is feeling and our hearts go out to them. If anyone from Squiggles wants help recovering, we can show you how we unrugged, hop into our Discord, we have devs waiting. WAGMI."

"Since the launch of Squiggles NFT in February of 2022, the team and community have faced countless setbacks. From being called a “rug” pre-launch to defamation, building Squiggles post launch was an uphill battle to say the least. As they say, there is always light at the end of the tunnel; As of May 31st 2023, we are proud to announce that the original Squiggles roadmap has been completed in full (and more) all while not generating any post-launch revenue, not to mention, without even selling out. Below will outline each step of the roadmap along with other utilities provided to our community."

"A year after the project was blacklisted on OpenSea because of certain troubling claims, a federal grand jury is looking into the creators of Squiggles NFT for money laundering and fraud. Tier10k, a Twitter user reported, which was later confirmed by a court document."

"For the majority of the last year, Squiggles has been an NFT project under evaluation. After its delisting on OpenSea, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) got a 57-page report to help with its inquiry.

According to the document released today, the owners of Squiggles NFT will be investigated by a federal grand jury. According to the court document, the probe is looking at probable breaches of federal criminal procedure. Furthermore, the lawsuit expressly named Gavin Mayo, Gabriel Hay, and Ali Saghi as defendants.

Furthermore, the complaint indicated that the agency is looking into breaches of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1343 and 1957. These two claim that the founders mentioned above committed fraud as well as probable money laundering techniques."

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
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• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
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• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

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• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

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The Reality

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What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - Squiggles NFT Suspicious Launch Activity

Date	Event	Description
December, 2021	Twitter Account Started	The Squiggles Twitter account is created.
February 10th, 2022 9:05:00 PM MST	Squiggles Tweet Deleted	Squiggles is accused of removing a Tweet which stated the "Squiggles Community is Very Strong" and "We Love you all". "BREAKING: squiggles removed from OpenSea, 20 min later they deleted their tweet"
February 10th, 2022 9:59:00 PM MST	Wrapped Frosties Support	The Wrapped Frosties team offers their support to users affectd by the squiggles rug pull in a tweet.
February 11th, 2022 9:11:54 AM MST	NFTEvening Article Published	NFTEvening reports that the Squiggles NFT collection, which gained significant hype, faced controversy and delisting from OpenSea. The project initiated with a high mint price through a Dutch auction, starting at 1 ETH and decreasing every 10 minutes, raising concerns of a cash grab or rug pull. Rumors of the project being a rug pull intensified after a deleted 60-page report circulated, linking the Squiggles team to past rug pull NFT projects. The OpenSea removal was reported by a prominent Twitter user, and despite denial of rug allegations by the Squiggles team, the collection was delisted. The team mentioned investigating the matter and redirected supporters to the LooksRare marketplace. Curious connections to the Stoner Ape Club project were also noted in the unfolding story.
February 16th, 2022 1:10:15 PM MST	Coffeezilla YouTube Video	Coffeezilla posts a YouTube video highlighting more about the Squiggles NFT project, and accusing the founder of being a puppet for known scam artists.
February 17th, 2022 6:31:55 AM MST	BitDegree Article	BitDegree reports that the Squiggles NFT project is facing community backlash and scrutiny after being exposed by various sources for its alleged involvement in previous NFT scams, with the team accused of executing rug pulls. A document detailed the team's purported connection to rug pulls, including projects like League of Sacred Devils, Lucky Buddhas, Dirty Dogs, League of Divine Beings, and Vault of Gems. OpenSea decided to delist the Squiggles collection in response to the revelations. YouTube investigator Coffeezilla further exposed the situation, revealing a scheme to sell $20 million worth of Squiggle NFTs with inflated values. Coffeezilla tracked down individuals creating wallets, purchasing Squiggles for millions, and selling them for less to create hype and an illusion of high demand. The document exposing Squiggles was reportedly sent to the US Securities and Exchange Commission for further review.
February 17th, 2022 11:30:00 AM MST	CoinTelegraph Article	CoinTelegraph reports that an alleged $20 million NFT scam was thwarted by the blockchain community, led by internet detective and YouTuber Coffeezilla, who exposed the fraud before the scheduled NFT drop of the project "Squiggles." A 60-page report surfaced, accusing the project's founders of being paid actors while revealing the involvement of a group known as "NFT Factory LA," including members Gavin, Gabe, and Ali, in multiple NFT scams. The scammers, doxed by angry crypto enthusiasts, attempted to manipulate the NFT sale volume, but vigilant community members uncovered their actions. The project was subsequently delisted by OpenSea, preventing the scammers from realizing their potential $20 million gain. Coffeezilla is recognized for exposing crypto scams and rug pulls within the blockchain community.
February 17th, 2022 3:35:20 PM MST	Everyday NFT Article	Everyday NFT reports that the Squiggles NFT project, set to launch with the potential for a $20 million windfall, faced exposure as serial rug pullers when an anonymous individual published a 60-page dossier revealing the project as a scam. The individuals behind Squiggles, identified as Gavin, Gabe, and Ali, were linked to previous NFT scams like League of Sacred Devils, League of Divine Beings, Vault of Gyms, Sinful Souls, Dirty Dogs, Lucky Buddhas, operating under the name 'NFT Factory LA.' The exposé indicated their intention to execute 5-10 rug pulls. However, just hours before their anticipated windfall, pictures circulated on Instagram connecting Squiggles' public face, Arsalan, and Gavin. The information went viral in the NFT community, potentially saving investors from losses. Despite the project's launch and $7 million in initial purchases within 30 minutes, it faced delisting on OpenSea within 24 hours. The NFT community's vigilance and investigation efforts, led by YouTuber Coffeezilla, contributed to exposing and mitigating the potential scam.
February 18th, 2022 7:31:00 PM MST	The Road Ahead Published	Squiggles published a Tweet entitled "the road ahead" with plans to cut their collection size in half and airdrop a free NFT to each existing holder.
February 21st, 2022 12:54:14 AM MST	CryptoGod Article	CryptoGod publishes an article on their blog about the situation.
February 21st, 2022 2:06:43 AM MST	Reddit Discussion	A Reddit discussion on OpenSea removing the Squiggles listing.
June 6th, 2022 9:28:58 AM MDT	Daily Dot Article	The NFT community, notorious for pseudonymity and rapid value fluctuations, has been embroiled in accusations of fraud and rug-pulling, particularly targeting crypto influencer Gavin Mayo. Mayo, with a substantial TikTok and Instagram following, faced allegations of misleading investors in NFT projects, as detailed in a disputed 60-page document circulated by the NFT Ethics Twitter group. Mayo denies the accusations, claiming that projects like League of Sacred Devils, League of Divine Beings, and others mentioned in the document are not rug-pulls but failed businesses with low floor prices. The accusations disrupted upcoming NFT projects, such as Squiggles, which faced trading halts on OpenSea and subsequent reductions in collection size. Mayo's connection to Imaginary Ones was also questioned, but both Mayo and the project denied any involvement. The nature of these accusations and their economic impact underscores the challenges and complexities within the NFT space.
February 3rd, 2023 7:19:21 AM MST	Federal Investigation	Today NFT News reports that a federal grand jury is reportedly investigating the founders of the Squiggles NFT project for fraud and money laundering. The investigation is focusing on potential violations of federal criminal procedures and stems from allegations related to rug-pull complaints that emerged in February 2022. Following the project's delisting from OpenSea, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) received a 57-page report, leading to the ongoing inquiry. The court document explicitly names Gavin Mayo, Gabriel Hay, and Ali Saghi as defendants and indicates an examination of potential breaches of federal criminal procedures, specifically Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1343 and 1957, related to fraud and possible money laundering techniques. The investigation also suggests the use of platforms like Instagram for advertising and minting NFT initiatives, which were allegedly involved in rug pull frauds.

Technical Details

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Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost is unknown.

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Immediate Reactions

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Ultimate Outcome

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Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

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Ongoing Developments

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Individual Prevention Policies

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