Mutant Ape Planet (NFT)
A knockoff of the Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFTs whose creator, French national Aurelien Michel, raised ~$2.9M then 'rug-pulled' buyers, abandoning promised rewards. He was arrested at JFK in 2023, pleaded guilty to wire-fraud conspiracy, and forfeited $1.4M.
Also known as: Mutant Ape Planet, MAP, Aurelien Michel
Summary
Mutant Ape Planet (MAP) was an NFT collection modeled on the well-known Mutant Ape Yacht Club. Its developer, French national Aurelien Michel, solicited buyers with promises of rewards, merchandise, staking tokens, and metaverse perks, raising about $2.9 million — then abandoned the project and diverted buyers' funds to wallets he controlled (a "rug pull"). [1][2]
Outcome
The U.S. DOJ said Michel admitted the rug pull in the project's Discord ("We never intended to rug but the community went way too toxic"). He was arrested at New York's JFK airport in January 2023 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in November 2023. In November 2024 he was sentenced to time served, fined $15,000, and ordered to forfeit $1.4 million; the court noted buyers had received some (low-value) digital artwork. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
People & entities involved
Sources (2)
See also
- Loci (LOCIcoin)TokensA 2017–2018 ICO for 'LOCIcoin' tied to the InnVenn IP-search platform. The SEC charged Loci and CEO John Wise with fraud for raising $7.6M on false claims about revenue, headcount, and user base; Wise also misused investor funds. Settled with a $7.6M penalty and an officer/director bar.
- Blockchain Terminal (BCT)TokensA 2017–2018 ICO (BCT tokens, ~$30M) for a 'Blockchain Terminal' — a Bloomberg-style crypto trading terminal. The SEC and DOJ said convicted ex-hedge-funder Boaz Manor secretly ran it under a fake identity ('Shaun MacDonald'), using associate Edith Pardo as a front, and lied about the product's adoption.
- Crowd Machine (CMCT)Tokens
This page was last updated on Jun 8, 2026. View revision history.