Authorities Arrest Creator of Mutant Ape Planet for Defrauding Investors

US Authorities have arrested Aurelien Michel, the creator of Mutant Apes Planets NFTs for defrauding investors via a rug pull scheme.

According to the filing made in a federal court in Brooklyn, the 24-year-old French National defrauded members of its NFT community over $2.9 million in digital assets.

In the press release by the Department of Justice on January 5, the defendant, while marketing the project to investors promised several deliverables including giveaways, raffles, merchandise collections, and exclusive access to other digital assets.

Additionally, Michel allegedly made several false promises to introduce several programs that will increase the value of the newly acquired NFTs.

However, nothing of the sort happened as all the funds raised after the NFTs were sold out were transferred to wallet addresses controlled by Michel. Therefore, leaving investors with a worthless asset after the rug pull – a type of exit scam whereby creators withdraw liquidity from a project before the completion of the project.

Michel Blames Toxic Community for the rug pull

While admitting to carrying out the rug pull scheme, Michel under the pseudonym name “James”  in a social media chat with members of the community,  blamed his actions on the toxic NFT community.

On the contrary, members of the community said lack of activities and lack of intent to deliver on the promises made to investors fueled the FUD discussions in the community.

Also, the prosecutors claim Michel can not blame the community for his criminal behavior as he will face the consequences of his actions after his arrest. Interestingly, the arrest was a collaborative effort of several agencies in the United States including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Homeland Security.

Michel who currently resides in the United Arab Emirates was arrested on Jan 4 at the John F. Kennedy International Airport. In an attempt to bring the project back to life, the community has taken charge of the Mutant Apes Planets project, which is a knock-off of blue chip Mutant Ape Yacht Club collections since after the arrest of the creator.

Meanwhile, the creator of the Goobers NFT project has admitted to gambling away users’ money causing the project’s market valuation to fall 9% at the time.