Dolce & Gabbana Scores Major Victory in DGFamily NFT Lawsuit

New York Judge Tosses Case Against US Subsidiary

Hang onto your hats, folks! Italian luxury powerhouse Dolce & Gabbana just pulled off a major legal win in the wild world of NFTs. The brand's been slammed with a class-action lawsuit over its $25 million DGFamily NFT project, but a New York federal judge said "no way" to the claims against Dolce & Gabbana USA Inc.

July 11th's court docs dropped the bombshell that the case against the sole US defendant got the boot, throwing a serious wrench in plaintiff Luke Brown's plans. The judge ruled there just wasn't enough to pin the Italian parent's alleged misdeeds on its American offspring.

This lawsuit, first filed in May 2024 and beefed up in September, accused Dolce & Gabbana and its Dubai-based buddy UNXD of selling pricey NFTs under the "DGFamily" banner without coughing up the promised goodies. We're talking exclusive digital threads, physical swag, and event access, all supposed to roll out every three months for two years.

But according to the complaint, the NFTs were late, short-changed, or straight-up MIA, leaving buyers out thousands - up to 97% of their investment in some cases. Ouch!

Brown, who says he lost $5,800 on a DGFamily NFT, tried to rally a class of fellow victims, arguing that Dolce & Gabbana USA and the Italian parent were basically one big happy family. The suit also dragged in UNXD and Bluebear Italia SRL, creators of the "inBetweeners" NFT collection, allegedly part of the same promo scheme, but those foreign defendants haven't been served yet.

In a decisive ruling, the court said Dolce & Gabbana USA couldn't be treated as the "alter ego" of its Italian parent. Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald wasn't buying the shared execs, overlapping staff, and common branding argument. She said the complaint lacked the hard facts to show the US arm was in the NFT game or so controlled that it should take the fall for the parent's actions.

The judge shot down the idea that just having some of the same people or sharing an office was enough to prove total control or fraud. "Overlapping ownership and personnel alone cannot establish an alter ego relationship," she wrote, leaning on past cases.

Dolce & Gabbana USA tried to shake the suit off in January 2025, insisting it was a separate entity with no part in the DGFamily NFT's marketing, sales, or development. They denied teaming up with UNXD or having any hand in running the project, saying it was all cooked up and managed by Dolce & Gabbana SRL and its global crew.

With Dolce & Gabbana USA out of the picture, the future of this class-action is looking mighty murky.

Recent High-Profile NFT Settlements

The NFT legal landscape has been popping off in the U.S. since 2025 kicked off. In January, DraftKings and the NFL Players Association squashed a beef over NFTs using player images, putting to bed claims of unfulfilled duties from their 2021 fantasy sports deal.

Then in April, NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal coughed up $11 million to settle a class action over his shilling of the Solana-based "Astrals" NFT project.