The US Division of Justice (DOJ) has charged two individuals allegedly behind a million-dollar non-fungible token (NFT) “rug pull” scheme. They deserted the NFT challenge inside hours after promoting out, deactivated the web site, and transferred over $1 million in crypto to the wallets they managed, the justice division defined.
NFT Purchasers Defrauded in a Rug Pull Rip-off
The US Justice Division introduced Thursday that two 20-year-olds have been charged in a “non-fungible token (NFT) fraud and money-laundering scheme.” The defendants, Ethan Nguyen and Andre Llacuna, allegedly defrauded purchasers of NFTs marketed as “Frosties.”
Based on the DOJ, on or about Jan. 9, the defendants “deserted the Frosties NFT challenge inside hours after promoting out of Frosties NFTs, deactivated the Frosties web site, and transferred roughly $1.1 million in cryptocurrency proceeds from the scheme to varied cryptocurrency wallets below their management in a number of transactions designed to obfuscate the unique supply of funds.”
US Lawyer Damian Williams stated:
Mr. Nguyen and Mr. Llacuna promised buyers the advantages of the Frosties NFTs, however when it bought out, they pulled the rug out from below the victims, virtually instantly shutting down the web site and transferring the cash.
Nguyen and Llacuna had been arrested in Los Angeles, California, as they ready to promote a second set of NFTs marketed as “Embers,” the DOJ famous.
The Justice Division believes that Embers is “one other fraud scheme,” noting that it was anticipated to launch on or round March 26 and anticipated to generate roughly $1.5 million in cryptocurrency proceeds.
The defendants “are every charged with one rely of commit wire fraud … and one rely of conspiracy to commit cash laundering,” the DOJ stated, noting that every rely carries a most sentence of 20 years in jail.
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Kevin Helms
A pupil of Austrian Economics, Kevin discovered Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His pursuits lie in Bitcoin safety, open-source programs, community results and the intersection between economics and cryptography.
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