By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 27 minutes ago, Updated 27 minutes ago
The Frenchman pleaded guilty to “criminal conspiracy to commit electronic fraud” in the context of this “Mutant Ape Planet” NFT scam. Rokas / stock.adobe.com
The Frenchman pleaded guilty to “criminal conspiracy to commit electronic fraud” in the context of this fraud case.
A Frenchman arrested at the beginning of the year in New York for having defrauded buyers of NFTs on a large scale, these theoretically unforgeable digital tokens, pleaded guilty on Tuesday in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York justice announced. A 25-year-old resident of Dubai, Aurélien Michel was arrested in January at JFK airport in New York and has since been released under judicial supervision. He faces up to five years in prison.
The Frenchman pleaded guilty to “criminal association with a view to committing acts of electronic fraud”, as part of this NFT scam case “Mutant Ape Planet», the most popular at the time of the explosion of these digital tokens, indicated the Brooklyn prosecutor’s office in a press release.
«When he is convicted, he faces up to five years in prison. He also agreed to pay $1.4 million» to justice, funds which were “seized», Adds the same source. According to American justice, Aurélien Michel, who acted with accomplices, had seduced investors by promising them “many benefits and rewards» if they bought the NFTs. But once he had amassed nearly three million dollars in cryptocurrencies, the project disappeared and the funds with it, a scam known as “Rug Pull».
2023-11-14 21:03:18
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