Brad Bao, executive chairman and co-founder of electric scooter company Lime, has been named as a defendant in a second federal racketeering lawsuit alleging he participated in a cryptocurrency fraud scheme, bringing total claimed damages against him and his associates to $157 million. The case represents a significant escalation of what was already one of the highest-profile RICO actions to hit the crypto sector, drawing a direct line between a sitting chairman of a major tech company and what plaintiffs describe as a sprawling, multi-year fraud.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by San Francisco investor Josef Qu (Case No. 3:26-cv-01235), who is seeking $57 million in damages. It arrives just weeks after a separate $100 million racketeering suit filed by investor group Goopal Digital Limited (Case No. 3:26-cv-00857) against the same defendants. Both lawsuits name Bao alongside lead defendant Fred Jin, the CEO of blockchain venture Cere Network.
