Aurelien Michel, the founder of the collection, was detained by authorities on Wednesday evening at JFK airport.
The U.S. Justice Department made the announcement on Thursday that it had arrested and brought criminal charges against the founder of an NFT project. The Justice Department claims that the holders of the project “rug pulled” them and defrauded them of $2.9 million in cryptocurrency.
On wire fraud charges, Aurelien Michel, 24, founder of the Ethereum NFT collection Mutant Ape Planet, was arrested last night at JFK airport in New York City. Michel is a resident of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and holds French citizenship.
This is the third time that federal prosecutors have brought charges against those who orchestrate so-called “NFT rug pulls,” schemes in which the creators of an NFT project sell NFTs with false promises of community benefits, utility, and financial benefits, only to abandon the project and steal investors’ money.
In this case, the DOJ claims that Michel promised Mutant Ape Planet NFT holders giveaways, tokens with staking capabilities, and merchandise collections. However, Michel never kept his word and instead took home almost $3 million.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) worked with federal prosecutors on this case.