Aurelien Michel, the founder of the NFT collection Mutant Ape Planet, was arrested this week by federal authorities for allegedly orchestrating an “NFT rug pull” scam. But it may have been just one of many scams that Michel perpetrated.
On-chain data suggests Michel got away with millions of dollars from several other similar scams, prominent blockchain analyst ZachXBT allegedly Friday.
ZachXBT linked Michel’s Binance address to accounts linked to two other prominent NFT blanket moves, Fashion Ape NFT and Crazy Camels.
NFT blanket pulls are schemes where creators of an NFT project sell NFTs – often thousands of them – on false promises of associated benefits and utility, only to abandon the project (usually deleting Discord, Twitter and other social channels) and do away with with the investors’ funds.
Fashion Ape NFT’s founders raised $1.1 million from the holders before abandoning the project; Crazy Camels earned $1.6 million before doing the same.
On Wednesday, US federal agents arrested Michel – a 24-year-old French national living in Dubai – at JFK Airport in New York City. Prosecutors have charged him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in the alleged carpetbagging of holders of his Mutant Ape Planet NFT.
The collection earned $2.9 million before Michel abruptly pulled the plug on the project, which had promised users giveaways, tokens with staking features, and fundraisers. None of these benefits were ever realized.
The DOJs complain against Michel, unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn yesterday, did not mention Michel’s participation in any other alleged NFT carpet missions besides Mutant Ape Planet.
ZachXBT used identifying information about Michel’s cryptocurrency accounts referenced in the DOJ’s complaint to track down the founder’s Binance account. That account was linked to several other allegedly fraudulent NFT projects.
Furthermore, The Crazy Camels websitesince deleted, the profiles of one of the project’s co-founders link to Michel’s Instagram account.
ZachXBT believes Michel’s alleged orchestration of multiple NFT scams using the same publicly traceable accounts indicates either a lack of fear of retaliation, or a complete naivete regarding the visibility of blockchain transactions.
“The [might] not have a basic understanding of how the blockchain works,” ZachXBT told Decrypt“since they deposit the funds to their personal CEX [centralized exchange] account, and buy expensive NFTs they show off on social media.”
The Justice Department alleged in its complaint against Michel that the founder went so far as to openly admit in a Mutant Ape Planet Discord channel that he had robust investors.
“We never intended to incubate, but society became far too toxic,” Michel reportedly wrote.
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