Aurélien Michel, son of former Guingamp player Claude Michel, is accused of stealing more than $2.9 million worth of cryptocurrencies from investors.
In the web3 world, some projects are too good to be true, they actually hide scams. Suspected of NFT fraud, former French footballer Aurélien Michel was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport on his way home to the UAE. Son of the former Guingampais Claude “Coco” Michel, he is accused by the American authorities “for defrauding buyers of ‘Mutant Ape Planet’ NFTs” stealing more than $2.9 million in cryptocurrency from them.
According to them, he “promised numerous rewards and benefits intended to increase demand and value” digital resources in this collection. Investors then reasoned that in addition to sole ownership of each NFT, they might have gifts or assets. However, they received nothing, their funds having in fact been diverted to Aurélien Michel’s personal benefit.
A scam linked to a “too toxic” community.
More specifically, the former footballer is accused of having implemented a “rug pull”, a sort of scam consisting of attracting investors with a project that seems legitimate and then seizing their money and disappearing. “Once the NFTs ran out, (Aurélien) Michel allegedly ceased communications and withdrew the funds from the buyers”, explains Thomas Fattorusso, acting special agent of the investigation service, in a statement from the US Department of Justice. Investors were therefore left with worthless digital assets.
According to US authorities, Aurélien Michel admitted to the scam during a conversation on social networks, but blamed the NFT buying community. “We never intended to pull the rug, but the community has become too toxic”, he has declared. Considering that this is not to blame for the criminal behavior of the ex-footballer, Thomas Fattorusso assured him that the son of Claude Michel “now he will have to face the consequences of his actions”.
