Logan Paul seems to thrive in the spotlight, and his recent stunt is no different. On February 16, the YouTuber-turned-WWE wrestler made waves by selling his prized PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator Pokémon card through Goldin Auctions for $16.49 million. This sale not only set a new record but also sparked conversations throughout the industry.
Paul had originally purchased the card in 2021 for $5.2 million.
“The PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator has been crowned the most expensive trading card ever sold at auction,” Goldin claimed after the deal was finalized.
Grade Legitimacy Debate
The card’s PSA 10 rating—the highest possible grade from the Professional Sports Authenticator—is one of the primary reasons for its record-breaking sales price. However, this grade has sparked considerable criticism within the Pokémon collector community.
Skeptics and card experts have long debated online whether the Pikachu Illustrator card owned by Paul was always graded as a PSA 10. They claim the card has visible flaws inconsistent with a perfect rating and cite evidence suggesting it may have previously received a lower grade. If this is true, the legitimacy of its current grading and the justification for its price tag would be called into question.
In April 2022, PokeBeach reported that the card had changed hands several times and had repeatedly received a PSA 9 grade because of a tiny chip on one corner. More recently, other online content creators have echoed those claims, highlighting visible flaws and adding that the card’s centering isn’t perfect.
Regardless, the perfect 10 grade is still listed as accurate and legitimate per the PSA’s database and official records.
Paul’s Controversial Track Record
Critics of Paul argue that the questionable grading is not an isolated incident. The internet personality has a history of financial projects that have been accused of fraud and exploitation of his large fanbase.
Perhaps the most infamous of these was CryptoZoo, Paul’s NFT project that promised investors a blockchain-based game where users could hatch, breed, and trade animal NFTs (non-fungible tokens). The project ultimately collapsed, with investors accusing Paul of running a scam, leaving buyers with worthless tokens while he moved on to his next money-making venture.
Paul was named in a proposed class-action lawsuit following allegations that his CryptoZoo project amounted to a “rug pull,” claims that gained traction after an investigation by the leading voice in the online crypto-world – “CoffeeZilla.”
The suit, filed in Texas, accused Paul and others of fraud, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, negligence, and violations of deceptive trade practices related to a token sale for their Web3 game that was never delivered. The lawsuit was dismissed by a Texas judge in 2025, who ruled that his promotional statements were “puffery” rather than direct fraud.
Then there was Liquid Marketplace, a “fractional ownership” website that Paul actively promoted to his followers.
The website allowed investors to buy fractional shares of high-value collectibles – including the rare Pikachu card. Liquid Marketplace has since faced fraud allegations from securities regulators, according to Polygon.com, which claim the company also misled investors and sold “unregistered securities.”
The fact that Paul sold “fractional ownership” of the same card he just sold for $16.4 million to a single person raises questions: What happens to the investors who bought into fractional ownership of an “asset” that has now been liquidated?
Paul took to X to try to answer that very question, posting, “To address concerns regarding the ownership history of the card, now for the facts: I had originally offered to sell up to 51% of the Illustrator on Liquid Marketplace but ultimately only 5.4% of the card was sold for about $270k in the Summer of 2022 to fractional owners… In May 2024, I bought the card back for the same price it was sold for per the terms of LM and made funds available for users to withdraw. I was told that those funds were available to be withdrawn for approximately a year after being deposited in LM users’ accounts…For reasons outside of my control, the LM site then went offline. When I learned users could no longer withdraw their funds on LM’s site, I personally paid to get the site back up. Users are now able to withdraw their funds (and they have been) at LiquidMarketplace.com.”
New Owner AJ Scaramucci
The man who purchased the card is AJ Scaramucci, a “venture capitalist” and son of former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci.
“AJ is a visionary entrepreneur. Very bold move. Very proud of you. Excelsior!” Scaramucci Sr. posted on X, celebrating his son’s big purchase.
Rather than buying the card as an investment or display piece, Scaramucci has lofty plans to build a “cultural” collection. Scaramucci said during the Golding Auctions livestream, where Paul handed over the card, that he plans to use the Pikachu Illustrator as the cornerstone of what he describes as a “planetary treasure hunt” – a collection of the world’s rarest and most culturally significant objects.
“My ambition for the card is just a small story. The real story is that I’m on a planetary treasure hunt. I’m planning to buy a T. rex dinosaur fossil, the Declaration of Independence, and I’m not stopping there. This is only the beginning,” Scaramucci explained.
