A federal racketeering lawsuit seeking $100 million in damages has been filed against Brad Bao, co-founder and former CEO of the micromobility company Lime, and other defendants, centering on the alleged pump-and-dump scheme of the Cere Network (CERE) token. The 41-page complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (Case No. 3:26-cv-00857), accuses the defendants of orchestrating a fraud that led to a 99.7% collapse in the token's value.
The plaintiffs, investor Vivian Liu and Goopal Digital Ltd., allege that Cere Network CEO Fred Jin raised roughly $43 million from over 5,000 investors ahead of the token's November 2021 launch. Despite public promises of lock-up periods, insiders allegedly sold $41.78 million worth of tokens immediately after launch. The complaint states the token price surged to around $0.47 before plummeting to approximately $0.0012 by early 2026.
Brad Bao is accused of lending his professional reputation and credibility to the project as a board member and investor. The lawsuit alleges he approved transactions that enabled the diversion of $16.6 million from company wallets into personal accounts and speculative DeFi investments, while failing to address accounting red flags. The complaint also claims market-making firm Gotbit Ltd. was used to conduct wash trading to conceal the scale of the insider selling.
This case arrives amid intensifying federal scrutiny of crypto fraud. Data from Chainalysis indicates crypto-related scams reached record levels in 2025, with estimated losses between $17 billion and $30 billion. The lawsuit reflects a growing trend of using RICO statutes, which allow for treble damages, in major crypto fraud disputes. Other recent cases include the sentencing of SafeMoon's former CEO and a separate RICO conspiracy involving over $263 million in alleged thefts.
The allegations against Brad Bao remain unproven in court, and he has not been convicted of any wrongdoing. If the case proceeds, it could set a significant precedent for executive liability in cryptocurrency token launches.
