News JVTech Accused of having committed a huge “rug pull”, this young French web3 entrepreneur is risking a lot
The young entrepreneur Aurélien Michel was arrested in the United States yesterday. The man is notably accused of having committed a major “rug pull” by taking advantage of the enthusiasm around the web3.
A “swindle” of several million
While on his way to Dubai, his place of residence, Frenchman Aurélien Michel had the unpleasant surprise of being arrested at New York John F. Kennedy airport. The young 24-year-old entrepreneur is the subject of a charge of “rug pull” which led to a scam of 2.75 million euros.
The term “rug pull” refers to the idea that these developers are pulling the rug out from under investors by vanishing with their money. This expression is often used in the world of cryptocurrency and NFTs. It describes a situation in which one of the members of a development group of a web3 project escapes with the money invested by the users without delivering the promised products or services. These scams are usually in place when the cryptocurrency industry is booming and frequently mislead less knowledgeable users in the industry.
In this case, Aurélien Michel is accused of having committed a “rug pull” through his collection of NFT: Mutant Ape Planet. The collection is inspired by the famous Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) series.
As with this one, to make jpegs in NFT more appealing, the contractor resorted to multiple promises to establish long-lasting privileges for the owners of the tokens. When carried out smoothly, this process generally allows the value of the tokens to appreciate over time.
Only, more than a year after the release of the collection, the famous rewards and advantages are still desired among the holders of the Mutant Ape Planet NFTs. However, Aurélien Michel never kept his promises and simply kept the money raised thanks to the sale of these Mutant Ape Planet NFTs.
“Buyers of Mutant Ape Planet NFT thought they were investing in a trendy new collectible token, but they were tricked and received none of the promised benefits. state the American authorities.
While he had promised the complete package of an NFT collection (gifts, exclusive features, advantages, collection of clothes), the entrepreneur would have probably cut off all communications with the buyers of the NFT project by leaving with the checkout according to the US Department of Justice.
Was Mutant Ape Planet a collection for “rug pull” investors?
The main interested party, however, denies the facts, indicating a version that is at least different. The French entrepreneur explains that at a certain point, Mutant Ape Planet’s investment community had become “far too toxic”, which precipitated the end of the project.
Although this argument does not in any way justify the misleading marketing used, it testifies to a very real phenomenon. With the NFT speculative bubble, many collections have emerged and have sought to bring their virtual project to life through a “roadmap”, a roadmap including various important stages of development. In the hope of unearthing the new bluechip (reputable collection), multiple collectors of various collections experienced disappointment when their favorite NFT project did not meet with the expected success, and the appreciation in value that goes with it.
Although these cases are all new for the justice system, it seems that they have already understood the ins and outs.
