Earlier this year we saw the launch of one of the more shady MLM crypto schemes; Meta Bounty Hunters.

It wasn’t until post-launch that the “team” behind Meta Bounty Hunters was revealed.

What we did uncover was MBH was being heavily promoted to iBuumerang affiliates through company owner Holton Buggs.

Then there was Travis Bott who, through Meta Lab Agency, has revealed his latest crypto grft; an NFT Ponzi factory.

Before we get into Meta Labs Agency, let’s bring you up to speed.

The grift behind Meta Bounty Hunters was simple – sell 8888 Star Wars knockoff cartoon NFTs at $2000 a pop.

Attached to the basic grift was an MLM opportunity, which operated as a pyramid scheme. Then on top of that you had “weekly reflection payouts”, which turned Meta Bounty Hunters into a Ponzi scheme.

By Travis Bott’s own admission, Meta Bounty Hunters generated $17.5 million. A quick payday for himself, Buggs and anyone else involved at the executive level.

The Meta Bounty Hunters NFT collection is traded on Open Sea, likely between a small group of insiders artificially inflating the floor price (currently 2.29 ETH or $4028).

Outside of the NFT bubble things look bleak. Earlier this month the WSJ reported NFT trading was down 92% from peak stupidity last September.

Here’s how Meta Bounty Hunters as an MLM company is going:

Quite obviously, the money is in the grift itself; sell cartoon tokens to dumbasses.

Likely realizing this, Travis Bott launched Meta Labs Agency in late March.

As per a May 22nd Meta Labs Agency press-release;

Whether you already have your art generated or need help, Meta Labs Agency has an in-house team of creatives, designers, and artists with web 3 experience.

They’ll help ensure your NFT launch aligns with your brand image, voice, and personality.

Their team is equipped with over 10+ years of experience in the Web 3 world. They have mint access to 10+ blockchain networks and a deep understanding of smart contracts and how to optimize gas fees.

What really makes Meta Labs Agency special is its focus on unique utility and providing value back to the holder.

“One of the things we identified was the use of proceeds and making sure the proceeds from mint were going to be deployed in a way that was going to benefit the community,” says Travis Bott, CEO of Meta Labs Agency.

Naturally Bott and his team aren’t mentioned anywhere on Meta Labs Agency’s actual website.

Attached to Meta Labs Agency is “Meta Labs Agents”.

What we do find there though is a clone of the Meta Bounty Hunters “reflections” Ponzi scheme:

We also get a list of Meta Labs Agency’s executives:

Meta Labs Agency’s first Meta Labs Agents Ponzi grift is much cheaper than Meta Bounty Hunters:

A $300 investment gets you access to a smaller reflections pool. Dropping $1700 on a “Secret Agent Collection” position opens up returns from “large reflections”.

The mathematically astute of you will note that burning five $300 positions to obtain a “Secret Agent” investment position comes to $1500. I’m assuming the $1700 direct investment cost is marketing.

It seems $17.5 million off of 8888 positions wasn’t enough. Bott’s new NFT Ponzi grift sees him flogging 30,000 $300 positions and 5000 $1700 positions.

Although the investment positions are split with a two-tier price model, flow of money from investors to Bott is the same – $17.5 million.

Well, sort of. The actual amount fleeced is likely to be lower due to the “trade in five $300 positions to get a Super Agent position” scheme.

Beyond the central Ponzi grift Meta Bounty Agents also has a raft of “coming soon” grifts.

Crypto Chads, Nomad by Ganga and Lions Not Sheep.

Crypto Chads seems to be a cash grab targeting insecure males. Nomad by Ganga is tied to Joaquin Ganga Lopez, an LA based tattoo artist.

Lions Not Sheep is a right-wing aligned apparel company. Its NFT collection cartoon art is again aimed at insecure males:

Earlier this month the FTC sued Lions Not Sheep and owner Sean Whalen. In their complaint, the FTC accused Whalen of lying about the origin of Lions Not Sheep apparel.

The Federal Trade Commission today took action against apparel company Lions Not Sheep Products, LLC, and its owner Sean Whalen for falsely claiming that its imported apparel is Made in USA.

According to the FTC’s complaint, the company added phony Made in USA labels to clothing and accessories imported from China and other countries.

The complaint alleges that on Oct. 8, 2020, Whalen published a video of himself to his social media accounts, with the title MADE IN AMERICA! alongside a Chinese flag.

In the video, Whalen said he could conceal the fact that his shirts are made in China by ripping out the origin tags and replacing them with tags stating that the merchandise was made in the United States.

Whalen settled the FTC’s allegations through a $211,335 judgment consent agreement. That judgment is nothing financially if the Lions Not Sheep NFT grift goes ahead.

Meta Bounty Hunters Season 2 is also referenced on Meta Labs Agency’s website. It seems Bott isn’t done fleecing his original investors just yet.

Central to Bott’s NFT grifts are “reflections”. This is just another name for returns, sourced from invested funds. It’s a classic Ponzi scheme, run through cash grab NFT collections.

What started with Meta Bounty Hunters has now morphed into a full-blown Ponzi factory – minus the MLM (more money for Bott).

Travis Bott is based out of Utah in the US. Despite offering a passive investment opportunity through their NFT schemes, neither Bott or Meta Labs Agency are registered with the SEC.

 

Update 11th June 2022 – Holton Buggs hasn’t still hasn’t acknowledged his suspected ownership stake in Meta Labs Agency.

On a June 6th iBuumerang webinar however, Buggs stated he “launched” Meta Bounty Hunters.

BehindMLM covered this as part of an article exploring iBuumerang distributors being fed into the Meta Labs Agency NFT Ponzi factory.