- Berman Nowlin, one of two men convicted in a fraud scheme involving the Undead Apes NFT collection, has died by suicide, according to his family
- Nowlin was awaiting sentencing for wire fraud and money laundering after being accused of defrauding investors of $135,000 in a rug pull scheme
- His family and lawyer argued Nowlin was an unwitting participant, manipulated by his co-defendant, Devin Rhoden
A man convicted of his role in a rug pull involving the Undead Apes NFT collection has died by suicide while awaiting sentencing. Berman Nowlin, 21, and his co-defendant, Devin Rhoden, created and abandoned a series of NFT collections in a scheme that cost investors $135,000, with the pair found guilty in October 2024. Nowlin’s family maintained he was a naive and unwitting accomplice who struggled with autism and was manipulated into involvement in the scheme.
Undead Apes Led to Untimely Death
In early 2022, Nowlin and Rhoden developed NFT collections called “Undead Apes” and “Undead Lady Apes,” colorful digital artworks traded on the Solana blockchain. Prosecutors said their success generated investor excitement for a third collection, “Undead Tombstone,” which was abandoned suddenly, leaving investors with worthless assets.
Rhoden and Nowlin reportedly earned $135,000 from the scheme, with Nowlin allegedly laundering the proceeds. However, his defense attorney, J. Jervis Wise, insisted that Nowlin was unaware of Rhoden’s fraudulent plans, telling the Tampa Bay Times that he “didn’t have any knowledge of what Rhoden was doing” and that he was “focused on the technical coding side.”
Nowlin Just a Pawn, Say Family
Nowlin and Rhoden were arrested in February 2024, with authorities alleging that they transferred the fraud proceeds from the Solana blockchain to the Ethereum blockchain in a process known as “chain-hopping,” an obfuscation technique used by cybercriminals and money launderers to make identifying and tracing illicit funds more difficult. The pair then used the cryptocurrency to purchase US dollars and transferred the currency into their respective bank accounts.
Nowlin’s family described him as a gifted coder with limited social awareness, largely due to autism, claiming that Nowlin genuinely believed he was innocent and had tried to make things right by returning funds to investors. Technology restrictions imposed after his arrest limited his ability to prove this, they allege.
