Mutant Ape Planet NFT developer arrested for fraud: Everything you need to know

• Aurelien Michel, tcreator of Mutant Ape Planet, has been arrested in New York.
• Michel is accused of defrauding investors to the value of 2.9 million dollars.

US authorities have arrested the man behind the Mutant Ape Planet NFT project, which is a knock-off of the popular Mutant Ape Yacht Club [MAYC] NFT collection. The 24-year-old French citizen Aurelien Michel was arrested when he landed at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.

Mutant Ape Planet creator charged with fraud

According to a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York on Jan. 5, prosecutors have alleged that Michel ran a “fraudulent rug pull” scheme and then defrauded investors out of $2.9 million.

The prosecution claimed:

“As part of the scheme, NFTs were marketed to buyers, who were falsely promised a variety of rewards and benefits designed to increase demand for, and the value of, their newly acquired NFTs. After selling out of the NFTs , buyers were “fooled” as none of the promised benefits were delivered.”

The prosecution has further alleged that cryptocurrencies worth millions were diverted to Michel’s personal use. This was the proceeds from the sale of the Mutant Ape Planet NFTs. The arrest involved several agencies in the United States, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Project creator admitted to orchestrating carpet pulls

According to the prosecutor’s office, Aurelien Michel will have admitted to orchestrating the carpet on the community’s Discord server. He used a false name to make the following confession:

“We never intended to incubate, but society became far too toxic.”

Homeland Security agent Ivan J. Arvelo stated that the developers had promised multiple deliveries to buyers at the time of investment. In addition, Internal Revenue Service agent Thomas Fattorusso stated that Michel defrauded investors by making false representations of giveaways, tokens with wagering features and merchandise collections.

According to data from CoinStats, Mutant Ape Planet had a floor price of 0.01 ETH at press time, and the total volume was 568.59 ETH. Interestingly, the project’s trading volume has skyrocketed to over 4400% in the last 24 hours. Community members have taken over the project. They are reportedly trying to bring it back to life, at the time of writing.