DraftKings cofounder Matt Kalish and DJ Steve Aoki misled consumers by failing to disclose they were paid to promote NFTs from a now-bankrupt company, according to a nationwide class action lawsuit that forecasts “tens of millions of dollars” in damages.
The proposed class action centers around non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, that were offered by MetaZoo Games LLC, a company that was founded in 2020 and went bankrupt in 2024. According to the complaint, Kalish and Aoki were compensated to advertise MetaZoo’s NFT products—known as MetaZoo Coin NFTs—on social media, helping fuel the company’s rise. At its peak, the collection sold to thousands of buyers, with a complete set of all 10 coins reaching a value of 20 Ethereum, or roughly $80,000 at the time.
The lawsuit alleges that Kalish and Aoki were part of a scheme to artificially inflate the NFT prices and generate profits for MetaZoo. It claims Kalish and Aoki presented themselves as “disinterested consumers” while tagging or recommending MetaZoo NFTs on Instagram and other platforms. Kalish and Aoki did not disclose that they were paid for the posts.This flies in the face of guidance from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Instagram parent Meta to clearly indicate when a post is part of a “paid partnership,” the suit says.
It went further than posts not marked clearly as ads. The complaint cites one instance when Aoki held a poker game at his home, attended by Kalish and others, that was broadcast on both defendants’ Instagram accounts. During the stream, Aoki and Kalish allegedly talked about how these NFTs were “going up in value and that they would continue to increase in value.”
Shortly after that stream, MetaZoo transferred about 90 Ethereum to Aoki and Kalish, according to the suit.
According to the complaint, Kalish and Aoki “went to great lengths to hide the nature of their partnership.”
The named plaintiff, Evan Berger, is also the attorney who filed the case. He says he “would not have purchased or retained the MetaZoo products if he knew that Aoki and Kalish were compensated to endorse MetaZoo.” More specifically, Berger says that although he was a seasoned buyer and seller of NFTs in 2021 and 2022, he decided to retain 26 MetaZoo Coin NFTs “that he otherwise would have sold due to a series of Instagram posts by Aoki and Kalish.”
At the time, that collection would have been worth more than $150,000. “Today they are worthless,” the complaint says.
The suit was filed on behalf of “every purchaser of MetaZoo products in the United States,” a class it expects will include tens of thousands of people. It seeks at least $5 million in compensatory damages and requests treble damages, which could push total recovery past $15 million—not including attorneys fees and other costs.
“Prior to bankruptcy, MetaZoo had tens of millions of dollars in revenue, a good portion of which can be directly attributed to the undisclosed endorsements on social media by defendants,” the suit says.
The four-count complaint includes claims that the defendants violated consumer protection laws in various states and that they were unjustly enriched.
Representatives for Kalish could not immediately be reached. A representative for Aoki did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
