The story behind the guy who stole $1.3 million in NFTs and may be planning another rug pull.
It seems that many people who know their way around the crypto and NFT communities also have a way of getting away with anything. This is the story of Andy Milonakis, who set up an NFT project, made more than $1.3 million in Ethereum, and walked away with all of it. What’s even more astonishing is that he said he was sorry but never returned any of the money to the investors.
2021 was a good year for the crypto and NFT space. Bitcoin and altcoins soared in value, and NFTs became an instant attraction as many who missed Bitcoin in the beginning were eager to catch the next big thing: non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This was also the time when some celebrities moved a notch higher in their involvement in the crypto space after realizing they could also make a killing from gullible investors by starting their own projects instead of just promoting what others built.
Goat Soup NFT
For some, like Andy Milonakis, this was a good time to launch his NFT project, Goat Soup. Initially, like every other NFT launch of that year, everything looked normal with Goat Soup, but things were about to change to the shock of the investors. Milonakis offered the GS community what many founders offer their investors, such as airdrops, art shows, parties, IRL utility, and more. With this promise,
I’m gonna get a lot of cool NFT stuff to airdrop to holders.”
The project minted 3,745 NFTs for 0.08 ETH each, the equivalent of $368 in April 2022. Milonakis made $1,378,160 from the sale of his tokens. Things still looked normal, and like many NFT projects, he was busy shilling his collectibles to pump up their value. This inspired even more people to buy.
A few more days later, after pocketing more than a million dollars, Andy was gone. No more tweets, no more promotions for sales, and nothing delivered, the investors were left with worthless gifs. Not even a moderator was in charge of the Goat Soup Discord channel. Three months later, the community dispersed. This is where it got interesting.
What Andy did
What did Andy do? He apologized. He literally said he was sorry for pocketing $1.3 million. Just sorry…
Here’s his full statement:
“Hey everyone. I know there’s a lot of hate for me, and rightfully so. I am not trying to justify my actions, but I will defend myself where things are wrong.
Is it shitty to be absent from a series? Yes. Is it shitty not to have some community leader in place to take care of stuff when I can’t? Yes. Does it mean Goat Soup is a rug? No”
What victims say
Here is what some people who he stole from are saying about GS NFT:
Mooncat5997 wrote: I am currently calculating how much ETH Andy made on us. I may have financed one of his trips to Italy or Greece. I hope you had a good vacation, @andymilonakis.”
Now, a year and a half later, Andy Milonakis is back. You guess what? He may even be waiting for another bull run to launch another NFT or any other trending crypto -themed project. Goat Soup’s value has dropped to $15 from its 2022 value of $350.
He mocks his victims, saying that being stolen from or scammed is a life’s lesson they should learn from. Why wouldn’t he come back for more if he could steal more than a million dollars and get away with it?
