Mutant Ape Planet NFT False Promises

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Mutant Ape Planet NFT

The Mutant Ape Planet collection, initially perceived as a competitor to Mutant Ape Yacht Club, gained traction but faced controversy as Michel and his associates failed to fulfill their promises and continued to use marketing strategies to artificially inflate demand. Michel ultimately walked away with millions of dollars after complaining that the community was too toxic for him. Members of the community took over control of the project and continued to operate it, trying to obtain justice and bring the collection back to prominence. Aurelien Michel, the creator of the Mutant Ape Planet NFT collection, was arrested in January 2023 and ultimately pled guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in a federal court in New York. He has agreed to pay $1.4 million in restitution and faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison. The Mutant Ape Planet collection has subsequently been removed from the OpenSea platform over copyright issues.

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

About Mutant Ape Planet

"The Mutant Apes Planet (MAP) is an NFT collection of 9,999 Mutant Ape Planet NFT with a community focus. Each NFT is algorithmically generated using a combination of over 150 attributes such as hats, eyes, skins and much more !" "Each Mutant Ape Planet allows its owner to be part of an exclusive community giving different perks and experiences to its holders. We are not associated in any way from any projects we derive from."

"POST SELL-OUT - Launch of our Merch Collection ‍ - Creation of a MAP token with staking features (De-Fi) ‍ - Community wallet for marketing campaigns and raffles among our holders ‍ - Acquisition of Metaverse land and expansion"

"It will be available for purchase on our website through an initial sale.

At the time of purchase, a randomly selected NFT will be minted on the blockchain and delivered to your wallet and OpenSea account.

Once the public sale is closed, you can get a Mutant Ape on the secondary market (on OpenSea)."

"The easiest way is to install a MetaMask extension in your Chrome browser and link your Ethereum wallet to it.

Ensure you have enough ETH in your wallet to cover the cost of a NFT plus the associated transaction (gas) fees.

Approve the transaction on MetaMask and you are all set.

The Mutant Ape will be available to mint on our official website."

"Mint Price will be 0,15 ETH + Gas"

"Once minted, you'll just need to login into your OpenSea account to view your NFTs."

"Initially perceived as a competitor to Mutant Ape Yacht Club by Yuga Labs, the Mutant Ape Planet collection quickly gained traction in the NFT space."

"Michel sought to take advantage of the broader ape-themed NFT trend in 2022 by offering 9,999 images of mutant apes that were minted starting on Feb. 4. The NFTs, sold on the Ethereum blockchain, cost about $468 each when the collection launched, based on the price of the Ether at the time, the US said."

"The marketing strategy Michel and his associates employed was based on false promises. They lured investors with the prospect of rewards and benefits, artificially inflating the demand for the Mutant Ape Planet NFTs. However, these commitments were never honored. Instead, the funds were diverted for personal use, a classic case of misrepresentation and breach of trust in the digital assets market."

"However a discord user by the name HTmadge took over the project and somehow convinced the original founder to hand over the OpenSea collection so he could take over and try and restore its glory. With amazing dedication htmadge brought together a witch hunters club which sole-" "Purpose was to track down the founder and bring justice, and by looks like they have succeeded! If it wasn’t to htmadge and the team the founder would have probably gotten away with it. Now we hope the nft project can be restored back to its glory"

"According to court filings and facts presented during the plea proceeding, Michel and his co-conspirators marketed the NFTs to purchasers by falsely promising them numerous rewards and benefits designed to increase demand for, and the value of, their newly acquired NFTs. But Michel and his co-conspirators intentionally failed to deliver on these promises, diverting millions of dollars’ worth of proceeds for their personal benefit while continuing to represent that the benefits would be forthcoming."

"Federal investigators #arrested #AurelienMichel,theCreatorOfThe #NFT collection #MutantApePlanet,lastWeek forSupposedlyArranging a“NFT #rugpull”fraud.Michel walkedAway with millionsOf$ from numerous other identical #scams,according to popular blockchain expert ZachXBT on Friday."

"Aurelien Michel, the mastermind behind the Mutant Ape Planet NFT collection, has entered a guilty plea for wire fraud conspiracy in a federal court in New York."

"Following his admission of the “rug pull” in a social media chat, Michel now faces a maximum of five years in prison. Additionally, he has agreed to pay $1.4 million in restitution. This outcome serves as a reminder of the legal boundaries that govern even the most modern and digital marketplaces."

"Once a thriving community, the Mutant Ape Planet collection has since been removed from the OpenSea platform."

“Aurelien Michel enticed investors with promises of capitalizing on the NFT trend, only to abandon the project after amassing nearly $3 million in what’s described as a ‘rug-pull scheme.’ The defendant, accused of misleading the Mutant Ape NFT community, claimed innocence and even labeled victims as ‘too toxic.’ However, these attempts to evade responsibility came to a conclusion with today’s plea,” stated Ivan J. Arvelo, Special Agent in Charge of HSI New York. “In the face of evolving investment landscapes, HSI remains vigilant, utilizing cutting-edge tools to safeguard individuals from unscrupulous actors and their attempts to exploit well-meaning investors.”

“While Michel purported to sell dream NFTs backed with rewards and benefits, he defrauded investors, turning their dream into a nightmare of deception and losses. There is no excusing this kind of greed, and today’s guilty plea brings Michel one step closer to realizing his own nightmare—behind bars,” said Thomas M. Fattorusso, Special Agent in Charge of IRS-CI New York.

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
• What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
• Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - Mutant Ape Planet NFT False Promises

Date	Event	Description
February 5th, 2022 3:21:00 PM MST	Sold Out Collection	The Mutant Ape Planet collection reportedly sells out in a single hour.
February 8th, 2022 2:01:00 PM MST	Phase 2 of Mint is Live	The second phase of minting opens up.
February 8th, 2022 3:13:00 PM MST	Mint Closing Announcement	An announcement that the second phase minting is closing at 6:30 PM EST.
February 8th, 2022 4:30:00 PM MST	Minting Closed	Second phase minting is now closed, according to the announcement.
February 15th, 2022 11:30:00 AM MST	High Trading Volume	The Mutant Ape Planet NFT is listed on NFTEvening as one of the top 10 NFTs by volume traded in the past 24 hours.
March 5th, 2022 9:41:00 AM MST	Final Tweet	A final tweet from the Mutant Ape Planet fraud says "Blood time, finally.".
March 7th, 2022 7:34:00 AM MST	Rug Pull Reported	"Everyone be careful with @mutantapeplanet and the rug pull they did on everyone! They will not allow members to even talk in the discord channel. They get kicked out, muted or attacked by bots and mods. Save your money."
March 19th, 2022 1:56:04 AM MDT	Archive Capture	The collection is captured on OpenSea.
March 25th, 2022 3:03:00 AM MDT	Reporting To Authorities	A tweet provides contact information for a federal agent to victims of the rug pull.
May 24th, 2022 3:39:00 PM MDT	Project Reportedly Handed Over	"The community is so important @mutantapeplanet #mutantapeplanet project has been handed over to the community along with unreleased #nftart for future seasons - now is the time to sweap some nice ones from the floor before roadmap 2.0 gets executed"
July 6th, 2022 8:24:00 AM MDT	New Community Twitter	The mutant ape planet community launches a new Twitter account in an effort to revive the project. "This is the new official account of @mutantapeplanet. The community took the project over and is actively rebuilding the project with a new roadmap! Come check out the changes on our Discord!"
January 4th, 2023	Michel Arrested	Aurelien Michel is arrested in New York.
March 1st, 2023 8:40:12 PM MST	Bloomberg Reporting Plea	Bloomberg reports that Michel is in discussions for a plea deal with prosecutors. "A French national accused of criminally defrauding buyers of his “Mutant Ape Planet” non-fungible tokens in a $2.9 million cryptocurrency scam is in plea bargain discussions with prosecutors, according to a court filing." "Prosecutor Dylan Stern and Adam Brody, a lawyer for Michel, asked the court to delay the case until April 5, because they “are engaged in plea negotiations, which they believe are likely to result in a disposition of this case without a trial.”"
November 14th, 2023	Justice Press Release	"Aurelien Michel, a French national who had been residing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), pled guilty at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York to conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with defrauding purchasers of “Mutant Ape Planet” NFTs, a type of digital asset. Today’s proceeding took place before United States Magistrate Judge Vera M. Scanlon. When sentenced, Michel faces up to five years in prison."

Technical Details

This section includes specific detailed technical analysis of any security breaches which happened. What specific software vulnerabilities contributed to the problem and how were they exploited?

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost has been estimated at $2,900,000 USD.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.