The creator of the Mutant Ape Planet, a collection of knockoffs of the Mutant Ape Yacht Club, has been arrested in New York and charged with “defrauding” investors of $2.9 million in a “rag pull scheme.”
The arrest took place on January 4 at New York’s John F. International Airport, along with Homeland Security Officer Ivan J. Arvelo. claim That French national “Aurélien Michel carried out a rug takeover scheme” and stole “about $3 million from investors for his own personal use.”
“Purchasers of the Mutant Ape Planet NFT thought they were investing in trendy new collectibles, but were deceived and did not receive any of the promised profits.”
Internal Revenue Service agent Thomas FatRusso was also quoted in a Department of Justice press release, stating, “Michelle misrepresented, among other things, giveaways, tokens with staking functionality, and commodity collections to mislead investors. I cheated,” he claimed. Once the NFT is sold out, the funds.
According to the statement, Michelle was understood to have admitted to the community through a social media chat that she pulled the rug by saying, “We weren’t going to put the rug down, but the community got too toxic.” I’m here.
The collection — a copycat of the popular Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT collection — will invest 567 Ethers (ethereum) deserve sale However, we have seen a crater in average price and sales volume since it launched in January 2022.
Following the arrest, the collection’s owner took to Twitter to side with them, noting that James had tried to blame his departure for a community that had become skeptical due to his lack of activity. We share stories.
What really happened to me was that the founder didn’t really deliver on the promised utility, he lost people’s trust, and one day the founder disappeared completely with no memo or anything. was. Things have gone sideways here as many have left the community –
— Perfect Electro (@electro_perfect) January 5, 2023
The project has since been taken over by a community spearheaded by a user with the pseudonym HTMadge trying to bring the project to life.
According to a Dec. 21 DappRadar report, lag pulls (a type of exit scam where project creators suddenly withdraw liquidity from the platform) most common type of attack Through 2022, there were 119 incidents and $200 million in stolen funds.
Related: Magic Eden refunds users after exploit sells fake NFTs
Popular influencer and former adult film star Lana Rhoades has reportedly been accused of being behind the big 2022 uproar. walk away with $1.5 million From the sales of an NFT project that has seen less than 1 ETH in sales since its launch in February 2022.
