-
The
U.S.
has
charged
three
individuals
in
connection
with
the
Evolved
Apes
NFT
scam
from
2021. -
The
NFT
project
promised
a
video
game,
but
its
website
vanished
shortly
after
it
finished
its
fundraise.
The
United
States
Attorney’s
Office
for
the
Southern
District
of
New
York
announced
today
that
it
has
charged
three
in
connection
with
a
non-fungible
(NFT)
token
rugpull
from
2021
known
as
Evolved
Apes.
Mohamed-Amin
Atcha,
Mohamed
Rilaz
Waleedh,
and
Daood
Hassan
are
charged
with
wire
fraud
and
money
laundering,
according
to
a
release
from
the
SDNY’s
office.
Evolved
Apes
was
a
collection
of
10,000
unique
NFTs,
which
promised
a
videogame
that
never
materialized,
as
the
anonymous
developer
Evil
Ape
vanished
a
week
after
launch,
siphoning
798
ether
($3
million
at
today’s
price,
$2.7
million
at
the
current
time)
from
the
project’s
funds.
“The
defendants
ran
a
scam
to
drive
up
the
price
of
digital
artwork
through
false
promises
about
developing
a
videogame,”
U.S.
Attorney
Damian
Williams
said
in
a
statement.
“They
allegedly
took
investor
funds,
never
developed
the
game,
and
pocketed
the
proceeds.
Digital
art
may
be
new,
but
old
rules
still
apply:
making
false
promises
for
money
is
illegal.”
In
crypto
parlance
this
type
of
maneuver
is
known
as
a
rug
pull,
a
type
of
exit
scam
in
which
developers
raise
funds
from
investors
through
the
sale
of
tokens
or
NFTs,
then
abruptly
shut
down
the
project
and
disappear
with
the
money.
According
to
De.Fi’s
Rekt
database,
over
$14.5
billion
has
been
lost
to
rug
pulls
since
2011.
The
largest
rug
pull
so
far
has
been
South
African
digital
assets
investment
fund
Africrypt
which
absconded
with
69,000
bitcoins
in
2021,
worth
nearly
$4.8
billion.
