Developer of ‘Mutant Ape Planet’ NFTs Arrested, Charged With Fraud for Alleged $2.9M Rug-Pull

The developer of the Mutant Ape Planet non-fungible token (NFT) assortment – a knock-off of the favored Mutant Ape Yacht Membership NFT assortment – has been arrested and charged with fraud for allegedly perpetrating a $2.9 million rug pull.

Aurelien Michel, a 24-year-old French citizen who lives within the United Arab Emirates, was taken into custody on Wednesday night after touchdown at John F. Kennedy airport in New York.

In keeping with the grievance filed Jan. 3, Michel and different unnamed defendants marketed the Mutant Ape Planet NFTs to potential patrons by promising them that their purchases would include advantages together with “rewards, raffles, unique entry to different cryptocurrency belongings, and the help of a neighborhood pockets with funds for use to market the NFTs.” Mission builders additionally made imprecise guarantees about buying “metaverse land” for the NFT undertaking, in response to authorities.

Nonetheless, none of Michel’s guarantees got here to fruition. When all of the NFTs had been bought, Michel and the opposite unnamed defendants allegedly transferred the practically $3 million in earnings to different wallets, together with wallets beneath Michel’s management.

When the Mutant Ape Planet patrons grew suspicious of the transfers, authorities say that Michel, posting beneath the pseudonym “James”, admitted to the rug pull in the neighborhood’s Discord channel.

“We by no means supposed to rug however the neighborhood went manner too poisonous,” the developer posting as “James” wrote. “I acknowledge that our conduct led to this…”

“It’s alleged that Michel defrauded buyers by making false representations of, amongst different issues, giveaways, tokens with staking options, and merchandise collections,” wrote Thomas Fattorusso, Appearing Particular Agent-in-Cost with the Inside Income Service (IRS)’s Legal Investigation workforce.

“Michel can not blame the NFT neighborhood for his felony conduct. His arrest means he’ll now face the implications of his personal actions,” Fattorusso mentioned.

Michel’s preliminary look earlier than U.S. Justice of the Peace Choose James Cho of the Jap District of New York (EDNY) is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.