In an interesting development, the creator of the fraudulent “Mutant Ape Planet” nft collection, Aurelien Michel, will avoid a prison sentence following a recent court ruling. However, the defendant has been ordered to forfeit more than a million dollars as punishment for carrying out a carpet robbery.
Creator of mutant apes to pay $15,000 and escape prison sentence on technicalities
In January 2023, the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York filed an indictment against Michel accusing the latter of defrauding unsuspecting investors of $2.9 million through the sale of the “Mutant Ape Planet” nfts. inspired by the popular “Mutant Ape Yacht”. Club Collection”.
The French national had marketed these digital assets to several people in 2022 with promises of various rewards, such as merchandise and metaverse land, designed to increase the value of these nfts upon acquisition.
However, Michel reneged on these promises and perpetrated fraud, diverting all funds raised from investors toward personal expenses. In November 2023, the malicious nft creator pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges brought by US prosecutors, resulting in a possible five-year prison sentence.
However, in a nft-fraudster-avoids-prison-in-investor-scam” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>Bloomberg Report On November 1, US Judge Margo Brodie handed down a one-month sentence to Michel, which was served after the defendant's arrest in 2022. In addition, the Frenchman is expected to pay a fine of $15,000 and forfeit $1.4 million. dollars of his wealth.
Judge Brodie's sentence is considerably light compared to prosecutors' request for a 37-month prison sentence. In his defense, Michel's lawyers argued that he would be spared a prison sentence since all investors received a “digital work of art” according to the definition of nft that is designed to confirm the unique ownership of various forms of digital art.
The American judge seemed to have sided with the defense attorney when she told Michel:
The amount of the loss is unclear. There is no doubt that you and your accomplices ultimately won or at least received $2.9 million from the project. But there is also no doubt that everyone who bought an nft gained or received something of value. What that value is, is not clear..
According to Bloomberg, Michel's case is one of three US indictments of nft fraud and the first to obtain a court ruling.
nft sales reach $356 million in October
According data from nft data aggregator CryptoSlamTotal nft sales in October increased to $356.62 million, representing a gain of 17.47% compared to the values recorded in September. Last month's reported sales volume was generated from 7,231,056 transactions involving 964,210 unique sellers and 616,546 unique buyers.
Featured Image by Bigney Law Firm, Chart by Tradingview
