Burwick Law Files Consumer-Protection Class Action Over Communi3 NFTs and the $SCI Token — Orea v. Opera Event, Inc. (S.D.N.Y.)
Burwick Law Files Federal Class Action Lawsuit Against Opera Event, Inc., Community First Games, and Communi3's Founders on Behalf of Communi3 Buyers
Burwick Law has filed a federal class action lawsuit on April 29, 2026 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Opera Event, Inc. (doing business as Communi3), Community First Games, and individual defendants Brandon Byrne, Andrew Ringlein, Erik Bryant, Eddie Tsaio, and Matt Espinoza. Opera Event, Inc. operated Communi3, a Web3 platform that marketed and sold a series of Solana-based non-fungible token collections and promoted a forthcoming cryptocurrency token known as $SCI. The complaint alleges violations of California's Unfair Competition Law (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17200 et seq.), California's False Advertising Law (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17500 et seq.), and unjust enrichment. The action seeks restitution, disgorgement, injunctive relief, attorneys' fees and costs, and class certification on behalf of all persons who purchased Communi3, Rifters, or related digital assets and suffered losses as a result of Defendants' alleged conduct.
Communi3 launched its first NFT collection in or around March 2022, was publicly described by its operators as a B2B Web3 enterprise platform connecting brands with NFT communities, and minted all of its digital assets on the Solana blockchain. The collections issued by Defendants included Communi3: Laboratories (priced at approximately $100,000 each), Communi3: Mad Scientists (5,001 NFTs at 2 SOL each), Adorable Assistants, and Rifters: Exiles (7,037 NFTs at 10 SOL each), alongside the promoted but never-launched $SCI cryptocurrency token. In 2022, Defendants publicly projected a fully diluted market capitalization of $250 million to $500 million for the $SCI token, with token prices of $0.25 to $0.50 and upgraded Mad Scientist NFTs purportedly generating $30 to $60 per day. The $SCI token was never launched, no airdrop was ever distributed, and the digital assets became worthless, with Defendants having raised at least $6.5 million to $8 million in direct NFT mint proceeds, plus additional secondary-market royalties and platform fees.
The complaint alleges that Defendants misrepresented Communi3 as a thriving, revenue-generating Web3 enterprise with blue-chip clients including The Sandbox, Yield Guild Games, and Magic Eden, made specific quantified promises regarding the $SCI token launch timeline and projected valuations, and concealed that the ecosystem depended entirely on continuous inflows of new capital from new participants. Buyers were harmed when Defendants serially broke promised launch deadlines spanning Q3 2022, December 2022, January 2023, and Q1 2023, allowed platform activity and community communications to cease in early 2023, and abandoned the project without ever launching the $SCI token, distributing the promised airdrop, or delivering the represented utilities, leaving purchasers holding worthless digital assets. Burwick Law is investigating on behalf of affected buyers of Communi3, Rifters, and related digital assets.
Burwick Law is a leading crypto litigation firm specializing in digital asset fraud, token losses, and memecoin class actions. Founded and led by Max Burwick, a U.S. Navy veteran and rescue swimmer, the firm represents over 4,000 clients nationwide. Burwick Law currently serves as lead counsel in several of the most high-profile crypto lawsuits in the country, including the Hawk Tuah meme coin case, the LIBRA token class action, and a RICO lawsuit against Solana-based memecoin launchpad Pump.fun — alleging it operated as an unregistered securities platform and illegal casino.
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