It wasn’t that long ago that Jeremy Ryan aka NFT Demon made his splash in the crypto sphere. From political activism, to entrepreneurship, to even being a prolific “hacktivist” sprinkled in with a side of running businesses and you find a rather interesting story. He’s been called everything from a nuisance to a drug dealer to a terrorist (this would later be walked back by the DOJ) by various governments and government agencies. So how did he end up where he did, the largest NFT artist on the BNB Chain? Lets take a deep dive into Jeremy’s history.
Activism –
Jeremy seems to have gotten his start in the public eye in 2011. Then Governor Scott Walker had introduced a bill to end collective bargaining and, predictably, there was uproar. It’s unclear how Ryan got involved as there are no public ties to any union but, nevertheless, the protests caught his attention. But Ryan didn’t just want to protest he wanted to occupy. So occupy he did forming a Political Action Committee called “Defending Wisconsin PAC” and becoming the face of the occupation. At a time when Youtube was far more in its infancy and streaming barely existed, Ryan became the only one to post videos from inside the Capitol during the occupation in which the public, outside of a small group, was locked outside. He earned the name Segway Jeremy Ryan for protesting in the Capitol exclusively on a Segway.
Eventually Ryan and others would be court ordered to leave the building and the protests would die down save for a sing along daily that still goes on to this day. But that didn’t seem to be enough for Ryan. In the proceeding months Ryan would challenge a whole bunch of laws through civil disobedience, at first involving just him but eventually bringing people back in. He would challenge a great number of laws he found to be unconstitutional by leading arrests daily. In one such round of arrests he and others actually successfully challenged the police in civil court winning $45,000. He would later go on to help start the Occupy Movement both in New York City where it began and Washington DC as well.
His Youtube channel is full of videos of his style of activism that was unique at the time and extremely eccentric including tactics like crashing legislative meetings in different ways from full takeovers to getting dragged out for various protests. All the arrests of which would later be dismissed according to court records except for one for “obstructing an officer” and another “disorderly conduct”. He lost that in default by failing to show up for court although it wasn’t mandatory. He was also convicted of another “disorderly conduct” for harassing journalists at the Wisconsin State Capitol in which three other charges were dropped.
The arrests would eventually end but Jeremy wouldn’t stop. In the proceeding years he would challenge everything from homeless people being fined for asking for cigarettes to ICE immigration treatment. From Ferguson, Missouri to Washington DC, Ryan seemed to pop up for any and all political movements to take place. His activism would generally involve an amount of real life “trolling” and it seemed nothing would deter him. For instance, while on Federal Probation, Ryan brazenly threatened to “doxx” or release the personal information of the Sheriff and his immediate family if he didn’t release a black protester from segregation. He followed through on those threats and was later arrested, eventually being bailed out and getting “time served”. He was also kicked off of federal supervision and sentenced to two months in federal prison for a variety of instances in which Judge James Peterson would call him entirely uncontrollable and beyond any help probation could offer. According to the Bureau of Prisons he was given “time served” for the two month sentence due to a federal detainer placed on him while in jail awaiting bail for another sentence.
Legal Issues –
Ryan faced a number of legal issues while in Madison, Wisconsin. Including more than fifty arrests for civil disobedience action listed above based off public records and his Youtube channel some of which were dismissed before making a court appearance so do not show up on court records. There are some more notable arrests however in the large bunch. According to a video by conservative think tank McIver Institute, Ryan and five others were convicted of “Obstructing An Officer” at jury trial and ordered to pay $200 in fines.
In a rather bizarre story he was also charged with “receiving stolen property” when he went unconscious and his mother found a stolen police jacket in his apartment and gave it to the police. According to news articles Ryan admitted to possessing the jacket stating he wore it at parties as a joke because it was funny to even imagine him as a police officer. That charge was eventually dismissed along with 3 other charges in a plea deal where he pled to two misdemeanor “disorderly conduct” charges for harassing press. He was sentenced to a “first offenders” program for the second time which he completed resulting in a dismissal of the charges according to court records.
But his legal issues didn’t stop there. In 2016 Ryan was raided and arrested for “maintaining a drug trafficking dwelling” and multiple counts of “possession with intent to deliver THC” for the sale of two 3.5 gram bags and one 7 gram bag of cannabis. The police would later admit in an article that they would normally never arrest for such a small amount but they had complaints. In that same article was a story of a time in which Ryan called the police for a medical emergency and police would not allow him medical care until they searched him first due to a “safety alert” deeming him “dangerous to law enforcement”. Despite no violent history police refused to elaborate on why the alert was placed.
Nevertheless, Ryan was sentenced to 20 days of work release jail after pleading to “maintaining a drug trafficking dwelling” and having the other charges dismissed. Prior to jail he bought a limousine to pick him up and drop him off every day which he put oversized custom wheels on and would call on social media his “jail limo”. Pictures were later released on social media of him smoking in the back of the limo on his way to and from jail. This would be his first felony.
But that wouldn’t be his last felony. In October of 2018 Ryan was arrested by the FBI for charges of “Attempt to Commit Nuclear Terrorism”. If convicted he faced life in prison. At one point Ryan took a plea bargain for time served only to turn it down after the news had covered it heavily. “Then I look at El Paso, and I can’t help but think maybe if they spent less time on politically imprisoning progressive activists and more on actual terrorists those people might still be alive,” Ryan said to the news at the time “And as much as my freedom means to me my values and integrity mean more.”. After spending 16 months being held without bail, the Ryan plead to “Unlawfully attempting to possess a radioactive material”, a charge in the same chapter as moving fireworks across state lines. The government admitted on court record that, after an extensive investigation, they found no evidence whatsoever of terrorism or any intent to harm anyone other than himself. The judge agreed that Ryan was not a threat and sentenced him to “time served” and 2 years of federal probation.
But his legal issues didn’t stop there. While on federal probation, Ryan took part in the protests against the murder of George Floyd by police. He would often livestream and was defiant of curfew. When a protest leader was arrested and thrown in solitary confinement Ryan called the Sheriff and gave him 4 hours to release the man from solitary confinement or he would release the personal information of the sheriff and his family. Four hours had passed and Ryan released the information in a facebook post ending in “tick tick kaboom doxx target hit, your favorite nuclear terrorist” according to court documents. He was later arrested for making terroristic threats along with several other charges. Despite all terrorism charges being dismissed, police reports indicated that Ryan was on the FBI Federal Terrorism Watch List. Ryan served 90 days in jail awaiting bail in that case but after moving to Portland eventually settled for time served by pleading to “disorderly conduct” and “unlawful use of a telephone”. He would later move to San Diego, California where he currently resides.
But this didn’t end his federal supervision. While waiting for resolution in that case Ryan was recommended for revocation of his probation approximately 8 months after being sentenced. In a video posted to his Youtube channel of the revocation hearing multiple accusations are made and uncontested by Ryan. Ryans attorneys, Joseph Bugni and Peter Moyers argued that Ryan had always been somewhat of a nuisance and had always “walked up to the line” and that Ryan could not get proper mental health treatment if everything he said went back to his probation agent. The state sought to revoke on the sole basis of his lack of cooperation with the appointed psychiatrist and her refusal to treat him for fear of being doxxed. Ryans attorneys and the state agreed that would be the sole grounds sought.
But in a surprising move Judge Peterson actually ignored the agreement between the parties and included getting kicked out of a halfway house, his arrest with the Sheriff, an incident where he called the Mayor a c*nt, and an incident where he harassed another federal probation agent he ran into to the hearing. Judge Peterson declared Ryan far more than a nuisance and said he crossed the line numerous times and was beyond any help probation could give him. He took the stance that you can’t become an annoyance just to get out of consequences and that Ryan was too uncontrollable for probation so he sentenced him to 2 months in federal prison but did allow him time to get his affairs in order and granted the request that he be sent to a medical prison due to numerous medical issues. BOP records indicate Ryan never served his sentence, however, and was instead given time served for time spent on federal detainer while in jail on the sheriff case. After that Ryan avoided legal issues outside of a charge for trespassing on federal property for smoking a joint outside of the ICE immigration facility in Portland. In a dramatic video he was body slammed off of his Segway and charges were dismissed.
Politics and Business –
Outside of political activism, Ryan ran a number of political campaigns. In 2010 Ryan sought to run for Secretary of State in the State of Wisconsin challenging a 32 year running incumbent. At the age of 21 he said the office needed fresh ideas. No more information could be found on this race. In 2012 Ryan ran for the Wisconsin State Assembly in the 76th District under the “Individual Party”, announcing his candidacy through a Youtube video in the State Capitol in front of the State Constitution. He was unsuccessful. There is very little information about this run either.
But things got more interesting in 2014. Exploiting a loophole in the Constitution Ryan ran in the Republican primary against Paul Ryan. He stated his intention was to confuse voters and make Paul Ryan spend money given as all of his promotional material said Ryan for Congress. It does not appear as though he did any campaigning or even hired any staff. He never filed campaign finance reports which by law would mean he spent less than $5,000 in the race. Campaign Finance Reports from Paul Ryan’s campaign and the Republican Party of Wisconsin revealed that over one million dollars was spent in that primary. Paul Ryans previous primaries he ran unopposed and spent nothing.
In a story by Talking Points Memo, a large left leaning publication about the race an unnamed Democratic Party official had this to say about Jeremy Ryan “There’s not a chance in hell he wins that primary,” the Democratic political operative told TPM. “This is a guy who has somehow managed to offend both sides of the aisle. He’s just out there purely to grab a headline.”. He got six percent of the Republican vote. The Republican Party of Wisconsin filed a complaint with the Government Accountability Board accusing him of election fraud and seeking to get him kicked off the ballot. Facing attorneys and a six judge panel Ryan made his own arguments and the panel decided that he did not commit election fraud and certified him to be allowed on the ballot.
But in 2018 it seemed Ryan was ready to run again and take things more seriously, sort of. He still didn’t file any campaign finance reports which would indicate spending of less than $5,000 but with Paul Ryan out he was left with a five way primary. He actually campaigned this time going to every debate he could, some of which are on his Youtube channel. He was not allowed at the official Republican debates and actually has a video of getting kicked out despite making it on the ballot. He made a campaign video titled “P*ssed the F*ck Off” in which he sticks to a platform of unity focusing on issues both sides poll well on like ending Citizens United, legalizing cannabis, and ending private prisons. He also smokes a bong in the video.
Cannabis was and is still illegal both medically and recreationally in Wisconsin. In another video titled “Drunk High Politics With Jeremy Ryan for Congress” he appears clearly inebriated and smoking a rather large bong while answering political questions. In a news story by Milwaukee station CBS 58 Ryan says about the video “I don’t think anyone actually has the balls to drink and smoke marijuana on camera. But, I think there are a lot of people who are running in the closet but I’m trying to be more genuine and honest about who I am,”. Despite the controversial nature, not being able to take part in the official debates, being attacked by both parties, the mostly progressive agenda, and being outspent massively by every other candidate Ryan managed to get 6,221 Republican votes putting him virtually tied with most of his opposition. In the 2020 race, while in jail fighting the nuclear terrorism case, Ryan filed for candidacy to run yet again however was unable to get the signatures to run for the office.
But Ryan hasn’t only been into politics. As it turns out, hes been into business as well. He ran a business called Cells R’ Us Global Wholesale and Consulting. According to business directory service Manta, Cells R’ Us started in 2009 and was a wholesale and consulting firm in telecommunications. While it’s unclear what they exactly did their primary operations seemed to have been in India and the United Arab Emirates. Estimated annual revenue was $2.5-5 million with 2-4 employees. He also ran a window tinting shop called Tint Tek Window Tinting in Madison Wisconsin, a partnership with someone who lived with him at the time of his raid and was on federal probation for a cannabis grow operation. Both businesses seem now defunct.
But prior to his arrest for nuclear terrorism Ryan struggled with a battle with brain cancer that gave him an artistic ability he never had before. In 2021 he used this artistic ability to start launching NFT collections very quickly becoming the largest artist on BNB Chain, at the time known as Binance Smart Chain or BSC. His rise caught the attention of several celebrities with his pieces being revealed to be the only ones on the chain at one point owned by rapper Eminem. According to his lawsuit against Twitter, one of his accounts suspended was also followed by Snoop Dogg and John Cena. According to another story he got Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, and even Burger King to follow the page of a memecoin he was running called Belieber on Sol. A review of his Facebook shows pictures of him smoking Cannabis with Tommy Chong (who also follows him on Instagram) and backstage with Tiesto among various other celebrity connections. Other notable followers of his various pages include Tom Cruise, Coldplay, and Lil Pump among others. His company NFT Demon Holdings, LLC is registered in Wyoming and his Facebook lists it as the largest consulting firm amongst celebrities and Fortune 500 companies. One thing is for certain, he has certainly made a name in the crypto/NFT field.
Hacktivism –
As though his story wasn’t crazy enough already a scroll through certain court records reveals accusations that Ryan was one of the founding members of Anonymous, the infamous hacktivist collective. So how exactly is Mr. Ryan tied to Anonymous? A deeper dive into that reveals some rather interesting pieces. Not only is Ryan friends on Facebook with Barrett Brown, a well known member of the hacktivist collective who was arrested for being so. He also pops up in numerous videos of meetings for Browns Project PM and is well received by the group which includes Brown as well as other hackers who were arrested for or spent time in prison for their involvement in Anonymous including Greg Housh and Aubrey Cottle. While nothing illegal is discussed in the videos it is clear that they represent a good chunk of the core group of Anonymous in its prime and well respected in the group is Ryan, visibly seen smoking a joint in some of the videos.
But the ties to Anonymous don’t stop there. According to Ryans own Facebook posts he would receive mail from Jeremy Hammond during his incarceration, arguably the most well known hacker within the Anonymous collective. Hammond, in fact, had the longest prison sentence out of any member of Anonymous in the US to be arrested. He was sentenced to ten years in prison, and three years of supervised release. Not only was Hammond an influential member of Anonymous, he also formed an offshoot of the collective called Lulzsec. Ryans ties to Lulzsec get even more apparent.
In August of 2014, after the shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson Missouri someone claiming to be Anonymous posted on one of the Twitter pages who they claimed to be the police officer who killed Brown. That person was not even a police officer causing backlash. More official channels of Anonymous condemned that page and stated that they did not represent the organization as a whole but that Anonymous would cease doxxing anyone until further notice. That story can be found here. However, while Anonymous was on hiatus from posting any information someone who went by the name G of Antisec, yes the same Antisec Jeremy Hammond founded, got some important information presumably through hacking. The information was three White House phone numbers directly inside the White House Situation Room at least one of which had never appeared anywhere online before. And while Anonymous, and by extension Lulzsec swore they wouldn’t release any information, they needed someone to get this vital information out. So who did they choose? You guessed it. Jeremy Ryan, who released it on his dogs Facebook as his was suspended at the time.
The Twitter Lawsuit –
So that brings us to the last part of the story, the lawsuit against Twitter or X Corp titled “Ryan v X Corp”. The complaint which can be downloaded here alleges X Corp of eight different business tort allegations. These include breach of contract, promissory estoppel, conversion, unjust enrichment, promissory fraud, false advertising, and unfair business practices. While no claims are made concerning the 1st Amendment the lawsuit also implies Elon Musk is being hypocritical in his statements on free speech when contrasted with how the social media company bans accounts. The crux of the lawsuit is seven accounts that were suspended by X without a real reason given or a reliable way to appeal. One of the accounts was a NFT project to support cancer patients and another was followed by Snoop Dogg and John Cena according to the suit.
Ryan alleges that by X suspending his accounts they are harming his business and ruining his profit potential. He seeks an award of damages to be determined at trial but exceeding $75,000, the amount necessary to exceed to sue in federal court. A review of Reddit or even Elon Musks own tweet which was also shared by X Engineering will reveal that suspensions for no reason and without a real reliable appeal system seem to happen to hundreds of thousands of people. In fact, a review of Elon and Engineerings tweets would indicate they never looked into it at all despite promising to make it right. So this case could have wide reaching effects that go far beyond Mr. Ryan.
But that’s not all. X filed a motion to dismiss in response to the lawsuit and despite all of Elon Musks claims on free speech they argue that they should be able to suspend anyone for any reason or even no reason at all without liability or recourse. Which would directly contradict their published policy on banning accounts as well as the assurances that X would be a place of free speech. Nonetheless that is the official company’s stance which can be found in their response motion here. Ryans attorney, Donna Etemadi has to file a response then X files a response to that but the hearing in which it will be ruled on is scheduled for August 22nd. It remains to be seen what will happen of the lawsuit but we will keep you updated.
