The creator of the Mutant Ape Planet NFT collection who was arrested in January over a $2.9 million rug pull has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud. As a result of the plea, Aurelien Michel, who said prior to his arrest that it was really the community's fault he took the money and ran, now faces a $1.4 million fine and up to five years in prison.
The whole Mutant Ape Planet thing was sketchy right from the start, even by NFT standards—for one thing, despite the name and the fact that its pricey JPGs were an obvious knock-off, it was completely unrelated to the Mutant Ape Yacht Club, an spinoff of the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. That didn't stop people from pouring millions of dollars into them though, enticed by promises of various rewards and benefits, and of course the prestige and value that comes from owning one of these:
