“Looking back, he realized that our life in Dubai was a source of dissatisfaction. (…) He was always looking for satisfaction that was impossible to find. » Like Victoire, the partner of Aurélien Michel, several relatives of the son of the former footballer En Avant de Guingamp, Coco Michel, raised the pen to raise his case with the judge in New York responsible for this amazing scam in the world of cryptoassets.
Token sale at… $2.9 million
At the beginning of 2022, the British from Pabu launched the “Mutant Ape Planet“, a series of virtual images related to NFTs * plagiarizing one of the most famous collections of the genre. The sale of these digital tokens supported by blockchain, which makes it possible to acquire ownership of a computer file, resulted in significant profits of around 2.9 million dollars (2.7 million euros).
But the project was then abandoned, leaving behind the promises made to investors and causing a drop in the price of “Mutant Ape Planet”. For lawyer Aurélien Michel, this fall would first be the result of the bursting of the NFT speculative bubble, at the end of the spring of 2022. This is not the opinion of the prosecutors, who believe that it is in the face of a classic pattern of fraud . pull a scam, a “rug pull“, in English.
A decision is expected this Friday
After pleading guilty – the hopeful former footballer had explained in particular that he had been involved in the creation of the website as part of his role in marketing -, “Auré”, as he says friends with him, his sentence will be handed down this Friday, November 1st. The 26-year-old young man, who moved to Dubai in 2020, was arrested in January 2023 at one of the New York airports, a surprise Christmas trip offered to Victoire.
This legal procedure was an “electric shock” for his family, notes his father, Coco Michel, in his letter to the judge. His arrest was used to “investigate” and “understand his mistakes”, he continues. “This allowed him to realize his shortcomings, to use his previous mistakes to surround himself with competent people (lawyers, lawyers, notaries, etc.) to be able to continue on doing business,” said the former footballer.
37 months in prison required
Placed on probation and under house arrest in New York, the young Brit, moreover, appears to be quite alone in the dock. American justice suspects a whole gang, with undisclosed identities, of being involved in this story and in launching two other questionable NFTs, “Fashion Ape” and “Crazy Camels”. While waiting to get their hands on the rest of the team, the New York prosecutor’s office requested a sentence of 37 months in prison against Aurélien Michel, or just over three years, and custody financial of 1.4 million dollars (1.3 million). euros).
Aurélien Michel’s lawyer argued, on the other hand, for a non-custodial sentence of a maximum of six months, a lighter sanction that would allow him to return to Victoire in the south of France as soon as possible. as possible. Aurélien focuses on “simple things, like being close to his family, and not chasing success to prove to people what he can do,” his partner confirms now. He is expected the decision this Friday, November 1, in New York.
* An NFT is a computer object (token) that provides rights, ownership or otherwise, to a real or virtual object such as a work of art (often digital), contract, diploma, etc. sure and unique, which gives value to the mark.
2024-11-01 05:00:00
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