Mutant Ape Planet creator arrested in NY for alleged $2.9 million NFT scam
The developer of a Mutant Ape Yacht Club collection – Mutant Ape Planet – has been arrested in New York, charged with allegedly “defrauding” investors of $2.9 million in a “rug pull scheme”.
The arrest took place on January 4 at New York’s John F. International Airport, with Homeland Security Agent Ivan J. Arvelo alleging that French national “Aurelien Michel conducted a carpet move” and stole “nearly $3 million from investors for his own personal use, ” says:
“Buyers of Mutant Ape Planet NFTs thought they were investing in a trendy new collectible, but were duped and received none of the promised benefits”
Internal Revenue Service agent Thomas Fattorusso was also quoted in a Justice Department press release, alleging that “Michel defrauded investors by making false representations of, among other things, giveaways, tokens with wagering features and fundraisers,” before withdrawing funds when the NFTs became sold out.
According to the statement, Michel allegedly admitted to the community via a social media chat that he had performed a blanket pull, saying “we never intended to brood, but the community became way too toxic.”
The collection – a spin-off of the popular Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT collection – consists of 6,797 NFTs stored on the Ethereum blockchain with a sale of 567 Ether (ETH), but has seen its average price and sale volume crater since its launch in January 2022.
Following the arrest, owners of the collection have shared their side of the story via Twitter, noting that James had tried to blame his passing on the community who became skeptical due to the lack of activity.
When I’m the reality, what happened was the founders didn’t actually stick to the promised tool which caused people to lose confidence and then one day the founders disappeared completely with no notes, nothing. Things went sideways here as many people left the community-
— PerfectElectro (@electro_perfect) 5 January 2023
The project has since been taken over by the community trying to breathe some life back into it, led by a user with the pseudonym HTMadge.
According to a DappRadar report on December 21, Rug pulls – a type of exit fraud where the creators of a project suddenly withdraw liquidity from the platform – were the most common type of attack throughout 2022, accounting for 119 incidents and $200 million in stolen funds.
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Popular influencer and former adult movie star Lana Rhoades was accused of being behind one of the bigger scams of 2022, after walking away with $1.5 million from the sale of an NFT project that has sold less than 1 ETH since February. Launch in 2022.
