- The scam amounted to US$2.9 million (R$15.4 million).
- Michel even admitted to defrauding Discord using the alias James, according to US authorities.
Aurelien Michel, developer of the Mutant Ape Planet collection of non-fungible tokens (NFT), a copycat version of the popular Mutant Ape Yacht Club collection, has been arrested and charged with fraud for conducting a $2.9 million (R$15.4 million) scam. According to information from CoinDesk.
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Michelle was arrested on Wednesday night (4) after landing at John F Kennedy Airport in New York, United States. He is 24 years old, a French national residing in the United Arab Emirates.
When all the NFTs were sold, Michel and the unnamed co-defendants allegedly transferred about $3 million to other wallets, including those under Michel’s control.
The complaint against Michelle and the co-accused also featured vague promises to buyers, such as getting “land in the metaverse” for the NFT project, bonuses, lotteries, exclusive access to other crypto assets and other benefits, according to authorities.
Michel even admitted to defrauding Discord using the alias James, according to US authorities.
“We never intended to pull the rug, but the community has become very toxic,” the developer wrote. He said “I am aware that our behavior has led to this…”.
“Rug pulling” is a term meaning a form of coup in which the investors in a particular project steal resources from the creator himself.
