Fictional Tweet Alleges Sotheby's VP Orchestrated $800,000 Art Bid for Memecoin Pump-and-Dump
A recent tweet from user "" has circulated, presenting a detailed narrative described as "speculative fiction" that alleges Michael Bouhanna, Sotheby's Vice President and Head of Digital Art and NFTs, was involved in an elaborate scheme to manipulate the art market for a memecoin pump-and-dump. The tweet claims a mysterious collector, speaking "exactly like him," placed an $800,000 bid on a piece appraised at just $15,000, then pressured the artist to promote a memecoin while threatening to withdraw the bid. This fictional account suggests the "news" article promoting the art piece was a press release designed to link the work to Elon Musk, who had retweeted it, thereby pushing a specific narrative.
The tweet specifically states, "I am alleging that Michael Bouhanna saw an opportunity to fabricate a memecoin pump and dump around a work of art retweeted by Elon and attempted to orchestrate this while employed by Sotheby’s." It further claims the alleged plot was "foiled only by the artist demanding that the auction house pull the bid." This fictional scenario also references a prior attempt to "rip off my own work with another coin" just five days earlier.
Michael Bouhanna is indeed a Vice President and Head of Digital Art and NFTs at Sotheby's, a prominent figure in the digital art and NFT auction space. He has previously faced real-world scrutiny regarding his involvement with memecoins, specifically the $BAN coin, which he described as a "spontaneous project and a personal hobby completely unrelated to my role at Sotheby’s." These past controversies, including allegations of insider trading related to memecoins, which he has denied, provide a backdrop for the fictional allegations made in the tweet.
Memecoin pump-and-dump schemes are a recognized form of market manipulation in the largely unregulated cryptocurrency sector, where individuals artificially inflate the price of a digital asset through misleading promotions before selling their holdings, causing the price to crash. Furthermore, Elon Musk's social media activity has been linked to real-world allegations of market manipulation, notably in a $258 billion lawsuit claiming he engaged in a racketeering scheme to inflate the price of Dogecoin through his tweets and public statements. These real-world parallels underscore the nature of the fictional scenario presented in the tweet.
The tweet concludes by explicitly stating, "this is of course a work of speculative fiction and not based on actual events or circumstances." This disclaimer frames the detailed allegations as a creative narrative rather than a factual report, drawing on themes prevalent in the intersection of digital art, cryptocurrency, and high-profile social media influence. The comprehensive fictional account serves as a commentary on potential vulnerabilities within these rapidly evolving markets.