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Former Olympian and media personality Caitlyn Jenner has successfully moved to dismiss a federal class-action lawsuit involving her eponymous cryptocurrency, “JENNER.” U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. ruled that the memecoin did not qualify as a security under federal law, dealing a significant blow to investors who alleged they were victims of a “pump and dump” scheme.
The legal battle began in November 2024 when a group of international investors, led by U.K. citizen Lee Greenfield, sued Jenner and her late manager, Sophia Hutchins. The plaintiffs claimed they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars after Jenner promoted the token on the Solana and Ethereum blockchains. The lawsuit alleged that Jenner used her celebrity influence to artificially inflate the token’s value before it plummeted, leaving retail investors with nearly worthless assets.
According to court filings, the JENNER token launched in May 2024 and quickly reached a market capitalization of approximately $43 million. However, the project was immediately mired in controversy. Jenner initially blamed a third-party collaborator, Sahil Arora, for a “scam” that caused the first iteration of the coin to crash. She then launched a second version on the Ethereum network, which included a 3% transaction tax. Investors argued this transition diluted the value of their original holdings and served primarily to enrich Jenner.
In his ruling, Judge Blumenfeld applied the “Howey Test,” a legal standard used to determine if an asset is an investment contract. He concluded that the JENNER token failed to meet the “common enterprise” requirement. The judge noted that the plaintiffs failed to prove their fortunes were inextricably linked to Jenner’s efforts beyond mere social media promotion. “Promotion alone,” the judge wrote, “does not establish a common enterprise.” He further observed that the token was marketed for entertainment purposes rather than as a structured investment in a specific product or technology.
While the federal securities claims were dismissed with prejudice, meaning they cannot be refiled in federal court, the judge dismissed the state-law claims of fraud and breach of contract without prejudice. This leaves the door open for the plaintiffs to pursue Jenner in California state court. For Jenner, the dismissal marks a major legal victory, though the underlying allegations of market manipulation continue to fuel a broader debate over celebrity accountability.
