Seth Green's Stolen Ape

2022

Date: 8 May 2022 · Place: Twitter · OpenSea · GBE Productions · Figures: Seth Green, actor · Bored Ape #8398 · DarkWing84, the phishing attacker · The buyer who acquired it secondhand · Tags: BAYC, Phishing, IP Showbiz 01. Phished On Mother's Day On 8 May 2022 Seth Green clicks a phishing link and loses Bored Ape #8398, two Mutant Apes, and a Doodle. The stolen ape, nicknamed Fred Simian, was the lead character of White Horse Tavern, an animated comedy Green had been developing on the premise that BAYC commercial rights pass with token ownership. The ape resurfaces hours later sold via OpenSea to a buyer (cchan / DarkWing84) who paid 106 ETH (~$200,000) in good faith. Green has no legal recourse against the secondhand buyer. The show cannot air because Fred Simian no longer belongs to its production company. 02. The Unenforceable License The episode crystallizes the legal incoherence at the center of BAYC's commercial-rights promise. If the token is stolen, the rights move. There is no escrow, no Hollywood-grade chain of title, no way to keep the show in production without the original NFT. Green negotiates a buyback for 165 ETH ($297,000) in June 2022. The ape returns. The show is announced and quietly never airs. The whole episode becomes the punchline that finally closes the door on celebrity NFT premieres. Sources • Etherscan, Bored Ape #8398 transaction history • Reuters, 'Seth Green Buys Back Stolen Bored Ape' (10 June 2022) • The Hollywood Reporter, 'Seth Green's NFT Show in Limbo' (May 2022)