A French citizen residing in the United Arab Emirates, Aurelien Michel, has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with his Mutant Ape Planet non-fungible token (NFT) collection. Michel was arrested earlier this year at JFK Airport in New York by Homeland Security Investigation agents. The charges stem from accusations of defrauding investors in his NFT collection, amounting to $3 million. Michel now faces a potential prison term of up to five years and has agreed to forfeit $1.4 million as part of the plea agreement. The fate of the remaining $1.6 million is yet to be determined.Inspired by the success of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collections, Michel launched Mutant Ape Planet. Despite lacking endorsement from the original BAYC creator, YugaLabs, Michel’s project gained popularity quickly. However, the project took a turn for the worse for investors when the collection abruptly vanished from OpenSea, raising concerns of fraud. Michel, posting under the alias “James,” admitted to the rug pull in the community’s Discord channel, stating that they never intended to rug but blamed the toxic community for their behavior. It was later revealed that Michel and his team had never intended to fulfill their promises to investors and that a rug pull had been the plan from the start.U.S. Attorney Breon Peace emphasized the commitment to safeguarding investors in the crypto sphere and beyond. He stated that Michel’s guilty plea demonstrates the Office’s dedication to holding criminal actors accountable and protecting the public from large-scale frauds in the digital asset space. Michel’s sentencing is scheduled for a later date, highlighting the ongoing need for accountability and protection against fraudulent activities in the evolving landscape of digital assets.

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Information	Details
Geography	Middle East
Countries	🇦🇪 🇫🇷 🇺🇸
Sentiment	negative
Relevance Score	1
People	Aurelien Michel
Companies	Mutant Ape Planet, Homeland Security Investigation, YugaLabs, Bored Ape Yacht Club, OpenSea
Currencies	None
Securities	None