On August 31, 2026, Judge Colleen McMahon of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York allowed racketeering claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) to proceed against Pump.Fun operator Baton Corporation Ltd. and its founders in the class action litigation.
The case alleges that Pump.Fun, its founders, and other participants operated a coordinated scheme involving the promotion and sale of cryptocurrency tokens through the Pump.Fun platform. The complaint alleges that certain participants received information about token campaigns before their public promotion, acquired positions before the tokens were promoted to retail investors, and then sold their holdings into the demand generated by those promotions, resulting in losses to investors.
In allowing the RICO claims to proceed, Judge McMahon found that the complaint plausibly alleges an “association-in-fact” enterprise consisting of Baton, its founders, and 25 unidentified memecoin promoters. The Court found that the allegations plausibly describe a group working together over time for the common purpose of profiting from the alleged fraudulent promotional scheme. The Court also found that the complaint plausibly alleges that Baton and its founders participated in the operation or management of the alleged enterprise through their operation of the Pump.Fun platform and direction of the technical systems on which the alleged scheme depended. The Court’s ruling allows the RICO claims against Baton and its founders to move forward.
The ruling and the litigation were also featured in a September 1, 2026 article in Law360 titled “Meme Coin Platform Pump.fun Must Face Users' RICO Claims.” The article discusses the Court’s ruling allowing the racketeering claims against Pump.Fun and its founders to proceed.
The case is Aguilar v. Baton Corporation Ltd. d/b/a Pump.Fun et al., No. 1:25-cv-00880, pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.