According to Cointelegraph, the developer behind the Mutant Ape Planet, a derivative of the popular Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) non-fungible token (NFT) collection, has been ordered by a court to forfeit $1.4 million and pay a $15,000 fine. On November 1, United States District Judge Margo Brodie sentenced French national Aurelien Michel to a one-month lockup, which he had already served in a New York facility. The judge also imposed a $15,000 fine on Michel and mandated the forfeiture of $1.4 million. Federal prosecutors had sought a 37-month prison term for Michel, but the defense contended that the losses linked to the fraud were overstated. Michel’s attorneys, Ira Sorkin and Adam Brody, argued that purchasers of the NFT received “digital artwork,” suggesting that Michel should be spared from further imprisonment. Judge Brodie concluded that the exact loss amount was unclear, noting that while Michel and his co-conspirators received $2.9 million from the project, each NFT purchaser did receive something of value, though the precise value was indeterminate. Michel was arrested on January 6, 2023, in New York for the alleged $2.9 million fraud. A Department of Justice press release stated that Homeland Security agent Ivan Arvelo accused Michel of executing a rug pull scheme, stealing nearly $3 million from investors. The release also mentioned that Michel admitted via social media that he had conducted a rug pull, stating, “We never intended to rug but the community went way too toxic.” The Mutant Ape Planet NFT collection comprised 6,797 NFTs on Ethereum, with 567 Ether (ETH) in sales. However, the average price of the NFTs has significantly dropped since its launch in January 2022. On November 15, 2023, Michel pleaded guilty to executing a rug pull and defrauding investors. Prosecutors asserted that Michel and his associates deliberately failed to fulfill their promises to the NFT collection’s community members. They claimed that while Michel purported to offer NFTs backed with rewards and benefits, he ultimately turned the venture into a “nightmare of deception and losses.”
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