On the 5th of January 2023, co-host at crypto critic pod, Bennett Tomlin, shared a legal report from the United States Attorney’s office as a warning to NFT rug-pullers.
Rug-pullers beware https://t.co/CiOwCMAIhS
— @bft.wtf on bluesky (@BennettTomlin) January 5, 2023
The report Bennett shared was the case of Michael Aurelien, The developer of the Mutant Ape Planet NFT collection – a knock-off of the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection. He was arrested and charged by the Department of Justice with fraud for allegedly perpetrating a $2.9 million rug pull.
@ZachXBT Reported in a Twitter thread that the twenty-four-year-old French citizen residing in the United Arab Emirates is charged with defrauding purchasers of the Crazy Camel NFT project and the Mutant Ape Planet NFTs. The value of users’ investment in these projects was worth more than $2.9 million in crypto assets.
Michael was taken into custody on Wednesday evening after landing at John F. Kennedy airport in New York and His initial appearance is scheduled for this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge James R. Cho.
As an NFT, each Mutant Ape Planet NFT is designed to be unique, freely transferable, and gives purchasers exclusive ownership and utilities for owning each NFT.
According to the complaint filed on January 3rd, Michel and other unnamed defendants marketed the Mutant Ape Planet NFTs to prospective buyers with several promises attached. This included the assurance of exclusive benefits to be received by potential buyers, exclusive opportunities for additional investments, giveaways, raffles merchandise, and other rewards, and the support of a community wallet with funds
After selling out of the NFTs, the purchasers were “rug pulled” which is a term used to define a cryptocurrency scam in which a developer attracts investors, but pulls out before the project is complete, leaving buyers with a worthless asset. Once the NFTs were sold-out, Michel allegedly ceased communications and withdrew purchasers’ funds from the company’s cryptocurrency wallets of over 3 million in earnings and diverted them to wallets under Michael’s control.
As alleged, in a social media chat with current and prospective purchasers, Michel admitted to the fraudulent “rug pull,” but blamed the community of NFT purchasers for his actions, stating that they never intended to pull out but the community went way too toxic.
The US Attorney States has put out a warning statement, stating that both he and his entire team is committed to bringing to justice bad actors abusing the market for their personal gain.
