Serial scammer Sahil Arora has successfully raised more than $300,000 in a token presale for a new celebrity memecoin named after Australian musician Iggy Azalea. However, Azalea’s official account on Twitter distanced the artist from Arora’s presale, clarifying that a separate crypto project had been planned. Azalea’s disapproval of Arora’s actions was evident in a now-deleted post on her account.
Iggy Azalea, the Australian rapper, had reportedly left Twitter last year due to negative experiences and had taken a hiatus from the platform in 2015. Azalea’s involvement with Arora adds her name to the growing list of public figures who have entered the world of memecoins through some association with him. American rapper “Rich the Kid” publicly accused Arora of hacking his account to promote the “RICH” token. Olympian Caitlyn Jenner also claimed that Arora scammed her during her own token launch, which had a market capitalization of over $40 million since its launch on May 27, according to Dexscreener data.
Jenner’s token has seen a decline of about 50% in its peak market cap as of May 28. Arora’s alleged fraudulent activities have gained attention due to his involvement in celebrity memecoin projects. He has been accused of various scams, including Avalanche-based rug pulls, which reportedly earned him stolen fees in small amounts. A recent token launch campaign detailed in a Telegram channel revealed accusations against Arora for conducting a rug pull, a common exit scam in the memecoin scene. An anonymous investor in that project stated that the liquidity was removed within five minutes of the coin’s launch. The investor also indicated that Arora did not receive more than 6-8 AVAX for the “RICH” token.
Arora denies the allegations that his campaigns on Avalanche are scams, arguing that people who lost money simply did not time their entries correctly. He claims that many people have profited from his launches, and the few who haven’t have become his haters.
In 2017, Arora dropped out of Pathways School, an international school, to start a taxi application, according to a Times of India article. Since then, he has founded several businesses, including ZelaaPayAE, a payments project, and Habibi, an influencer platform.
A former contractor for ZelaaPayAE, who wishes to remain anonymous, revealed that he was added to the website despite only working on one order for Arora. The contractor claims that Arora failed to pay him the £800 he was owed until threatened with legal action.
In 2017, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder of Indian payments giant PayTM, publicly accused Arora of identity theft.
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