Good luck – The American authorities have arrested this 24-year-old Breton, who is allegedly involved in a carpet throw of $2.9 million. The Frenchman, who may have been involved in other scams, would have facilitated the work of the investigators.
NFT fraud and rookie mistake: a Frenchman arrested in the United States
In the series of tweets since Jan. 7, the advocate Muqsit Haider gives details of the arrest of Aurélien Michel at John F. Kennedy Airport in the United States. The American authorities arrested the Frenchman, for a electronic fraud connected to an NFT project.
Aurélien Michel is the founder of the Mutant Ape Planet collection, for which he began advertising in January of last year. This collection which includes 9 999 NFTs. It allowed him to fly around $2.9 million to investors, who believed in his false promises regarding these non-fungible tokens.
According to Muqsit Haider, 70% of the collection was sold in February. It would then generate 1 020 ETHA little bit more than $2.9 million. The buyers sent the funds to the Mutant Ape Planet smart contract. Later, the French started sending these assets to crypto mixers.
In June, the cryptocurrencies ended up in a portfolio owned by Aurélien Michel, and for which he had made a KYC procedure. This portfolio has thus been associated with the Frenchman’s name, but also his telephone number, his e-mail address and his photo.
And the Breton will facilitate the work of the American authorities by using this very information, when filling out a travel application to the United States.
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One tug can hide two more: on the trail of stolen funds
Aurélien Michel will therefore have to answer for his actions before the American justice for this tug of war. He also had recognized the scam, when he started draining Mutant Ape Planet’s fund smart contract.
The Frenchman then showed himself arrogant by publishing his confession in the community Discord, and blaming it on the community:
« We never intended to abandon the project, but the community has become too toxic. »
Answering the question in a tweet, the lawyer Muqsit Haider indicated that Aurélien Michel risked a sentence ranging from ” up to 20 years in prison, a fine, or both The young Breton could also face heavier sentences, if the information analyst ZachXBT shared on Twitter is true.
ZachXBT linked Aurélien Michel’s Binance wallet address with two more frauds. He shared the above diagram pointing out that the Frenchman likely participated in two more shots on the mat: Fashion Bee NFT and Crazy Camels. They cost $1.1 million et $1.6 million to the respective community.
Will Aurélien Michel’s arrest put names behind other NFT scams? Fraudsters take advantage of the boom in the sector to line their pockets, behind the backs of careless investors spot red flags.
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