JAKARTA – A Vietnamese resident residing in the US has earned US$2.6 million (approximately Rp39 billion) from his NFT project. The figure was named Le Anh Tuan, 26 years old. On July 1, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) indicted Le Anh Tuan for the crime of fraud and carries a sentence of 40 years in prison.
The man launched his action by offering the NFT Baller Ape Club project which is a clone of the famous NFT Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). Anh Tuan started printing and selling NFT Baller Ape Club on the Solana (SOL) network and managed to raise IDR 39 billion.
However, not long after, Le Anh Tuan deleted the website of the Baller Ape Club project and fled with the money that went into his crypto wallet. This figure performs a rug pull action in his NFT project.
The authorities investigated Le Anh Tuan and found that he and his subordinates had transferred investors' money to various other networks. It is intended to remove traces.
Meanwhile, the DoJ announced that if found guilty of all charges leveled against Le Anh Tuan, he would be sentenced to prison terms of up to 40 years.
Authorities also said it was the highest-value NFT fraud case in the US ever prosecuted. The announcement did not reveal more specific information about Le Anh Tuan's background and current data.
In addition, the US Department of Justice is also prosecuting three other fraud cases related to cryptocurrencies, including:
- TBIS: conspiracy to impersonate US government officials and Apple employees to launch an ICO;
- EmpiresX: a crypto trading platform accused of selling illegal securities and conducting Ponzi schemes;
- Circle Society: conspires to raise capital to set up a crypto investment fund, commits to provide profits of up to 600% but does not register it with the authorities.
In total, the four cases prosecuted by the US Department of Justice cost investors more than $130 million in losses. The DoJ urges victims of the four scams to report endorsements and claims to the authorities, as reported by Coincu.
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