Scaramucci Jr. Scores Generational Wealth Flex, Drops $16.5M on Logan Paul's Tokenized Pikachu Heist

A.J. Scaramucci, progeny of SkyBridge's Anthony "The Mooch" Scaramucci and bonus points for his dad's brief White House comms gig, just shelled out a cool $16.49 million for Logan Paul’s PSA-graded Pikachu Illustrator card. Forget mooning tokens; this sale straight-up vaporized the previous trading card record holder – a $13 million Michael Jordan-Kobe Bryant Dual Logoman 1/1 card sold last August – establishing dominance in the high-stakes cardboard game. Guess generational wealth finds new ways to flex.

This particular 1998 Illustrator Pikachu is a certified unicorn fart, being one of only 39 ever printed and reportedly the only one deemed worthy of the PSA 10 crown – flawless corners, original gloss intact, zero suspicious stains lurking. Paul originally snagged this pixelated prize pony back in July 2021 for a mere $5.3 million, proving even influencers can occasionally buy the dip.

Not content with just holding cardboard, Paul leveraged his shiny new acquisition. Post-purchase, he raised $8 million to launch Liquid Marketplace, pitching it as the future hub for tokenizing both physical如果想要 and digital collectibles. Summer 2022 saw him list the Illustrator itself for fractional ownership, generously offering up to 51%... though investors only nibbled for about $270k (or 5.4%), possibly smelling the faintest whiff of impending bag holder status.

Regulators inevitably rained on the parade. In 2024, the Ontario Securities Commission slapped Liquid Marketplace, Paul, and co-defendants with securities-law violations, accusing them of deceiving investors, failing to register properly, and playing fast and loose with funds. Paul hit back on X, explaining he dutifully bought the card back per marketplace rules (at the original sale price!), made funds withdrawable, and even personally funded the site's Lazarus act after it went offline. Users can now extract their cash from liquidmarketplace.io, a feature reportedly seeing significant use.

Meanwhile, proving that degens just need something to flip, Pokémon cards remain scorching hot on-chain. Collector Crypt townsquare, a Solana-powered marketplace specializing in tokenizing graded Pokémon cards into redeemable NFTs, logged a blistering $37 million in trading volume during the