LUCA NETZ: FROM RUG PULLS TO RICHES
How Free Chain Scams and alleged NFT Rug Pulls led Netz to 7-figure Profits
Luca Schnetzler, known online as Luca Netz, is the current CEO of Pudgy Penguins. With over 4500 holders and over 190,000 eth in secondary volume, it's one of the most popular nft projects in the market today.
Netz became CEO after offering 750 eth for the project following revelations of founder ColeThereum's involvement in drop shipping and other unethical activities.1
But few know Netz has some secrets of his own to hide.
What follows are the findings of an extensive investigation into Netz’s history, littered with drop shipping schemes, dubious marketing practices, alleged nft rug pulls, and a controversial "free chain scam", all backed up by receipts and blockchain data.
Find out what dark details he doesn't want you to know.
Supreme Patty Free Chain Scam
Back in 2018, a promotional campaign by influencer Supreme Patty stirred controversy. He offered high-quality chains valued at $100 dollars for "free" on his website but, upon checkout, customers found themselves charged unexpectedly high shipping fees, ranging between $18 to $20 per item.
Additionally, delivery times took weeks, sometimes months, if they received anything at all. Customers that did receive their order discovered that their chains were actually cheap $1 AliExpress items drop shipped directly from China. And not actually worth the $100 they were advertised as.
An outpouring of dissatisfaction flooded the internet.2 Dozens of complaints reached the Better Business Bureau,3 an organization formed to protect consumers against unfair, misleading advertising and selling practices. The TheDailyBeast wrote an article titled "Instagram Influencers Dupe Their Fans With ‘Free’ Products". And even Supreme Patty's Urban Dictionary entry still mentions it today:4
“He manipulates his young audience for monetary gain, going so far as to scam them with ‘free jewelry’ (dropshipping scam).”
Lewis Spears, a YouTuber with over 500k subscribers, made an in-depth video titled Supreme Patty’s free chain scam. In the video, Spears explains exactly how the free chain scam worked. Saying it’s “some of the scummiest money-making tactics he has ever seen online”. Another popular YouTuber known as NameBran said “Do I think I got scammed? Absolutely”. Referring to the items as “absolute junk” in his 2018 review video.5 And others made videos warning fans not to buy.6
The backlash was so prevalent it became known as the "free chain scam".
The Man behind the Scam
But who was the man behind the whole operation? The payments were handled via a company named LA GOLD CARTEL LLC.7 Which ran a similar drop shipping site named lagoldcartel.com.8 Its brand ambassadors were Supreme Patty and Xavier Wulf.
In a recent 2023 interview, Supreme Patty said someone named “Luca”9 convinced him to partner up after sending him a series of e-mails: “At the time it had a whole different name and we gave it a couple of test runs, like for a couple of days and it seemed to be going well. So we ended up transitioning into my full site.”
Netz often reminds his audience that he became a self-made millionaire through "influencer marketing", but conveniently omits any reference to the free chain scam, the complaints and backlash stemming from these deceptive marketing tactics.
However, business records corroborate that Luca Schnetzler (Luca Netz) is the owner and creator of LA GOLD CARTEL LLC. Confirming Netz was the man behind the operation.
Knowing this, it seems more so that Netz made his fortune selling deceptively marketed "free chains” to impressionable young Supreme Patty fans who felt duped after they discovered they could've bought the same items off AliExpress for $1.
Drop shipping courses & day trading
In the aftermath of the free chain controversy, Netz started selling his drop shipping method via e-com courses. With prices ranging from $425 to $1,700. These courses were notable for their no-refund policy.
Simultaneously, amidst the crypto bull market of 2020, Netz seemingly became a day trading authority. In Q4 of 2020 he created the Netz Trades Discord, netztrades.com, and netztrades socials, and started selling access for $100 a month.
His websites looked almost identical using similar templates, names and slogans. It was promoted as “Run by real traders making real money”. But it seemed to lack verifiable profit and loss statements, exit signals, and a refund policy.
Luca Netz and Nick Von
To make matters murkier, his partner in these undertakings was Nick Von Geijer known online as Nick Von.1011
Von is the type of person that will scream into a camera asking you to join his Discord while flaunting a $500k car. So it should come to no surprise that he’s been accused of various nft scams.12
On a more serious note, Von has faced multiple accusations of defrauding women through romance scams. One woman shared her harrowing experience on a website aptly named LAscammer.13 While another woman launched a GoFundMe titled "Lawsuit Against Nick Von Geijer".14
The association between Netz and Von raises questions, as Netz publicly lauded Von as one of his closest confidantes. In fact, Netz attributed his "spiritual awakening" to Von during an episode of his podcast, Free Game w/ Netz.15
Maybe Netz had a prolonged lapse of judgement? Who knows? Then again, nobody is guilty by association. But seeing Von was also the admin for his Netz Trades Discord, which still active today under the name Internet Accelerator, one might want to know if Netz and Von are still partners.16
Project 1: Spooky Boys Country Club
After his foray into trading, Netz ventured into the world of NFTs. Queue Spooky Boys Country Club (SBCC). An nft project from 2021 that raised 779 eth during mint.
Its founder HolyGhostnft seemingly vanished shortly after launch. Leaving investors disillusioned with some saying it was a scam. In April, 2022 RugPullFinder labeled it a "confirmed rug pull".17
In an effort to revive the project, SBCC investors created a "revival team". Netz, a prominent community member, was appointed as a board member in August 2022.18
What few seem to know is that Netz received million dollar payments from SBCC long before being appointed and way before the founder vanished. Let’s dive in …
The blockchain shows that lucanetz.eth received $702k on Nov 13th, followed by $51,584 on Nov 30th, and another $454k on Dec 20th 2021. Netz received over $1.2 million (277 eth) directly from SBCC.
We also see netztrades.eth, a wallet closely associated with Netz and named after his day trading Discord, received $1 million from SBCC during that same period.
Together lucanetz.eth and netztrades.eth received over $2.2 million (516 eth) months before the founder purportedly rug pulled. In fact, when we look at the top 10 of wallets lucanetz.eth received the biggest payment, followed by netztrades.eth:
To put it in perspective: the SBCC developers cowboylabs.eth received a total of 173 eth. A significant difference despite their critically important role. Why would Netz receive the biggest share if he wasn’t an essential part of the team? And why did Netz receive more than the founder?
Coincidentally, the Spooky Boys Country Club trademark was filed by the same law office that submitted trademark applications for Netz Trades, Netz Commerce, and Netz in that very same year.19
Some SBCC investors suspected Netz was the founder but he always denied it:
Yet Discord logs confirm Netz was the 2nd person to join the SBCC server. Joining 14 days ahead of the founder. Hinting Netz had a key role from the beginning, and wasn’t just a late "revival team" addition.
Project 2: Cookies N’ Kicks
Cookies n’ Kicks (CNK) was a sneaker store on Melrose by Eli Hayman. Of which Netz was a named partner.20 During the nft mania CNK decided to release nfts. They promised a lifetime membership to CNK University with online courses, seminars, podcasts, private Twitch events, a 10% discount at their store, and of course a Metaverse with an online game.21
CNK raised $718,633 from their mint. After failing to deliver on their promises accusations of rug pulling piled in. Just like with the free chain scam, disillusioned investors made YouTube videos, threads and tweets exposing the project.2223
“You guys [CNK] are a scam you scammed me out of my money and you guys mute anyone who voices their opinions on how you guys are handling things in your discord” - @ObeyMr_1400, a CNK investor
Some alleged the sole reason CNK created nfts in the first place was because they couldn’t pay their consignors.
After the backlash Netz distanced himself from CNK, arguing he was only involved with the Melrose store and not the nfts.24 Yet the blockchain shows lucanetz.eth and netztrades.eth received proceeds directly from the nft collection one day after mint. $92,245, $15,374 and $4,835 on Feb 10th and March 26th 2022 respectively.
CNK was developed by cowboylabs.eth. The same devs that created SBCC. Making this the second nft project lucanetz.eth, netztrades.eth and cowboylabs.eth were involved in. So, you might be wondering, who are Cowboy Labs?
Project 3: DemiGodsUniverse
Cowboylabs.eth are the devs behind DemiGodsNFT aka DemiGodsUniverse (DG).
DG promised holders 30% of sales of their to-be-made comic book. They raised $1,117,716 with their mint. Of which Cowboy Labs received $134,372. But the comic never came. Their site and discord went offline and socials inactive. Another purported nft rug pull …
How was an unknown project with a seemingly anon team able to raise over a million dollars? Lets take a look at their marketing tactics.
Fake Gary Vee promotions
DG used Gary Vee’s likeness to insinuate he was interested in or part of their project. Dozens of accounts pushed out misleading Gary Vee content. With No Jumper and Millionaire Mentor going as far as posting “Is Gary Vee subtweeting about the Demi Gods NFT?”.25 Millionaire Mentor received $22,395 for these ads. Coincidentally, he was also paid $35,082 for promoting SBCC.
An influencer that genuinely did promote DG was none other than Netz’s former LA GOLD CARTEL’s brand ambassador Xavier Wulf. Wulf promoted his custom-made DG one day before their mint.26 Only to delete it some time after.
And replies to deleted signals on the Netz Trades Discord show that DG was also promoted on Netz’s server prior to the project disappearing.
Sham BAYC Giveaway
In December 2021, DG held a Bored Ape Yacht Club giveaway. Anyone had a chance to win Bored Ape #8085. So who owned the Bored Ape at the time of the giveaway?
Luca Netz owned Bored Ape #8085. He bought it for 55 eth on Aug 11th and then held it since. On Jan 2nd 2022 he sent it to 0xda9614. So maybe that was the lucky winner? Doubtful:
0xda9614's first tx was $10,677 from lucanetz.eth
The 2nd tx was forwarding that money to netztrades.eth
In fact, the entire wallet history shows 0xda9614 has only received eth from lucanetz.eth and netztrades.eth. What happened next?
After 0xda9614 received the Bored Ape it was forwarded to a wallet named Ckkelly. Who sold it on Jan 14th 2022, earning 76.95 eth. After the sale Ckkelly sent 21.97 eth to the DG marketing wallet.
The sale earned 76.95 minus 21.97, which left Ckkelly with 55 eth. Remember, Netz bought the Bored Ape for 55 eth prior to the giveaway. Coincidence? Let’s dive into Ckkelly's wallet:
Ckkelly's 1st nft was minted by lucanetz.eth
Ckkelly sent it to netztrades.eth, who sold it for profit
Ckkelly was airdropped yOOt#5147 which was forwarded to lucanetz.eth
Ckkelly was funded by 0x746aCD which also financed the DG multi-sig
Neither Ckkelly, nor 0xda9614 wallets ever held a DG nft, which was a requirement to win the BAYC giveaway. I couldn’t find an official announcement of the Bored Ape winner. So what do you think, does this look like a legit BAYC giveaway?
To summarize: DG used Netz’s Bored Ape, was promoted by Netz’s former brand ambassador, was signaled on his Netz Trades Discord, and had the same devs as SBCC and CNK, two projects Netz was also heavily involved in, and all three have publicly been called out as scams. Which brings us back to the original question: Who are Cowboy Labs?
Cowboy Labs
The Cowboy Labs devs that made over $950,000 from these alleged rug pulls are 0xLoMel and CowboyUly. But you might know them as Lorenzo Melendez, now president of Pudgy Penguins and Ulysses Atkeson Pudgy Penguins Chief Blockchain Officer.
Netz brought them into Pudgy Penguins after taking over from ColeThereum. Making it the fourth project both Netz and Cowboy Labs are involved in.
DG’s original site had LoMel as their dev before changing it to another name. CNK’s simply had devs named “Cowboy”, and an old version of the Cowboy Labs site mentioned SBCC but that was also deleted.27 Neither Cowboy Labs, Melendez, nor Atkeson mention any of these alleged rug pulls on their LinkedIn profiles.
But their cowboylabs.eth wallet, payments and deployments tie it all together:
It's ironic that Pudgy Penguin's founder, ColeThereum, accused of drop shipping, nft cash grabs, and other unethical practices, was succeeded by someone with a strikingly similar, if not more questionable history.
Netz's past shows a trail of misleading marketing practices, spanning from web 2 into web 3, culminating in three separate nft schemes that left investors with substantial losses — a pattern that raises ethical concerns about his financial success.
While some may argue that Netz has achieved more than ColeThereum, it's important to understand how Netz has managed to amass significant wealth through these dubious means and not to overlook the trail of harm and complaints left in his wake.
TrustPilot supremepatty.com: 92% 1-star scores
Supremepatty.com scam?!, May 2018
Reddit complaints on r/scams, Oct 2018
more complaints, Sep 2018
Supreme Patty’s Urban Dictionary “He manipulates his young audience for monetary gain, going so far as to scam them with “free jewelry” (dropshipping scam)”, Dec 18, 2018
NameBran video “Do I think I got scammed? Absolutely”, Oct 17, 2018, YouTube
Exposing Supreme Patty, "It is an absolute scam", Sep 4, 2018
How SupremePatty.com Is Scamming You with "Free Items", Oct 26, 2018
SUPREME PATTY IS SCAMMING KIDS, Jan 25, 2019
LA Gold Cartel LLC payment processing, Dec 6, 2018, YouTube
www.lagoldcartel.com original website, waybackmachine.com
Supreme Patty confirms Luca Netz partnership, “One of our buddies Luca. He sent us an e-mail about it back in the day”, Jan 16, 2023, YouTube
Nick Von Geijer & Luca Schnetzler Discuss Building an eCommerce Empire through Social Media, Oct 14, 2020, socialmediaexplorer.com
Free Game w/ Luca Netz, “You're also a business partner of mine”, Jul 2, 2021, YouTube
www.lascammer.com, “Unmasking the Scammer Nicholas Preston Von Geijer aka Nick Von geijer”, waybackmachine.com
Lawsuit Against Nick Von Geijer, gofundme.com
Free Game w/ Luca Netz, Jul 2, 2021, YouTube
Luca Nets, “Interview I did with one of the netztrades.com admins”, Jul 2, 2021, waybackmachine.com
RugPullFinder, “Spooky Boys Country Club - Confirmed Rug Pull”, Apr 12, 2022
SBCC 2022 Board Elections, snapshot.org, Luca Netz SBCC Board Member, Aug 29, 2022
Trademark Spooky Boys Country Club record, Nov 8, 2021
Trademark Netz Trades record, Apr 27, 2021
Trademark Netz Commerce record, Apr 27, 2021
Trademark Netz record, Apr 27, 2021
Cookies N’ Kicks article “said partner Luca Schnetzler”, Jan 5, 2021, nyweekly.com
cnkworld.io, Cookies N Kicks NFT Roadmap, waybackmachine.com
The $1,000,000 Cookies N' Kicks SCAM Just GOT WORSE, Jan 25, 2023, YouTube
How to Rug NFT with Eli Hayman/Cookies N' Kicks, Aug 2, 2022
Sneaker Store That STOLE $1,000,000 & CLOSED (Cookies N' Kicks), Jan 19, 2023, YouTube
No Jumper, Millionaire Mentor, “Is Gary Vee subtweeting about the Demi Gods NFT?” promo
Xavier Wulf 1/1 DemiGodsNFT promo, 2nd promo, Dec 19, 2021, waybackmachine.com
Archived Cowboylabs.xyz site mentions SBCC, but was removed in new site version