Yuga Labs has demanded that the court prosecute artist Ryder Ripps, who created an alternative collection of BAYC tokens, for deliberately destroying the private keys to his wallet.

Yuga Labs alleges that artist Ryder Ripps intentionally destroyed the private keys to the addresses holding the Ryder Ripps BAYC (RR/BAYC) collectible tokens to prevent the enforcement of an injunction. Previously, Yuga Labs accused the artist and his partner Jeremy Cahen of faking Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) “bored monkeys.” In February 2024, the California District Court issued a final ruling in favor of Yuga Labs, ordering Ripps to burn all remaining RR/BAYC NFTs or turn them over to Yuga for destruction within two weeks.

However, the defendants asked the court to reject Yuga Labs' motion for sanctions. Ripps' defense claims that he fully complied with the court order, with the exception of orders to destroy or transfer RR/BAYC tokens. On February 21, Ripps reported that he destroyed these private keys back in December of last year. The artist explained his actions by saying that he wanted to prevent any unintentional use of the wallet. However, this may be considered a violation of the injunction.

“Given that Ripps maliciously destroyed private keys, he attempted to mislead the justice system. Therefore, the court should exercise its discretion and hold Ripps accountable for disregarding the order. Normally deleting private keys only means that Ripps will no longer be able to access the infringing tokens. It turns out that he still owns these NFTs, and they are associated with him,” Yuga Labs said in the lawsuit.

The company added that Ripps can restore access to his NFTs if he has physical or digital backups of the keys. Yuga Labs also questioned Ripps' claims, arguing that he continued to use one or more addresses associated with RR/BAYC after the October injunction.

Recall that last year, BAYC investors accused Yuga Labs and one of the oldest auction houses, Sotheby's, of colluding to artificially inflate BAYC prices.