法國 NFT 詐騙犯因法官質疑買家損失而逃過牢獄之災

一名法國公民試圖利用2022 年不可替代代幣的熱潮，出售其「突變猿星球」數位資產，但在法官表示很難確定他們實際損失了多少後，他因欺騙買家而免遭牢獄之災。

A French national who sought to exploit the frenzy for nonfungible tokens in 2022 by selling his “Mutant Ape Planet” digital assets has avoided prison for defrauding buyers after a judge said it was difficult to determine how much they’d actually lost.

一名法國公民試圖利用 2022 年不可替代代幣的熱潮，出售其「突變猿星球」數位資產，但法官表示很難確定他們實際損失了多少，因此他因欺騙買家而免於入獄。

Aurelien Michel, 26, pleaded guilty in November to wire fraud conspiracy, admitting he falsely promised thousands of NFT buyers “exclusive” benefits to boost the value of his neon-colored digital depictions of cartoon monkeys. Instead, he abandoned the project after he’d raised $2.9 million, prosecutors in the office of US Attorney Breon Peace in Brooklyn, New York said.

26 歲的 Aurelien Michel 在 11 月承認了電匯欺詐陰謀，並承認他向數千名 NFT 買家虛假承諾“獨家”好處，以提高他的霓虹色卡通猴子數字描繪的價值。紐約布魯克林美國檢察官布倫皮斯 (Breon Peace) 辦公室的檢察官表示，相反，他在籌集了 290 萬美元後放棄了該計畫。

US District Judge Margo Brodie on Friday sentenced Michel to the one month he’d already served in a Brooklyn, New York, lockup after his arrest. She also imposed a $15,000 fine and ordered him to forfeit $1.4 million.

美國地區法官瑪戈·布羅迪週五判處米歇爾被捕後在紐約布魯克林看守所服刑一個月。她還對他處以 15,000 美元的罰款，並命令他沒收 140 萬美元。

Federal prosecutors had sought a 37-month prison term, but Michel’s defense team argued losses tied to the fraud were overstated.

聯邦檢察官尋求判處 37 個月監禁，但米歇爾的辯護團隊認為，與詐欺相關的損失被誇大了。

“The loss amount is unclear,” Brodie said. “There’s no question you and your co-conspirators ultimately gained or at least received $2.9 million from the project,” she told Michel. “But there is also no dispute everyone who purchased an NFT obtained or received something of value. What that value is, is unclear.”

「損失金額尚不清楚，」布羅迪說。 「毫無疑問，你和你的同謀最終從該項目中獲得或至少收到了 290 萬美元，」她告訴米歇爾。 「但毫無疑問，每個購買 NFT 的人都獲得或收到了有價值的東西。這個價值到底是多少，目前還不清楚。

Michel’s case is one of only three US criminal prosecutions over alleged fraud in NFT marketing and the first to reach sentencing, lawyers for both sides said after the hearing Friday.

雙方律師在周五聽證會後表示，米歇爾的案件是美國僅有的三起涉嫌 NFT 行銷詐欺的刑事訴訟之一，也是第一起宣判的案件。

Before he was sentenced, a tearful Michel apologized to the judge and his victims. “This is my first criminal conviction and I promise you it will be my last,” he said.

在被判刑之前，米歇爾淚流滿面地向法官和受害者道歉。 「這是我第一次被定罪，我向你們保證這將是我的最後一次，」他說。

Michel’s lawyers Ira Sorkin and Adam Brody had argued their client should be spared prison, insisting purchasers of “Mutant Ape Planet” NFTs received “digital artwork.”

米歇爾的律師艾拉·索爾金(Ira Sorkin) 和亞當·布羅迪(Adam Brody) 辯稱，他們的客戶應該免於入獄，並堅稱“突變猿星球”NFT 的購買者收到了「數位藝術品」。

An NFT confirms unique ownership of a digital asset. They were most popularly used for digital art or collectibles such as video clips, memes or items used in online games. At the height of crypto mania in early 2022, NFT series such as Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks were fetching millions of dollars, fired up by endorsements from celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Snoop Dogg. By June of that year, prices of many NFT collections had collapsed.

NFT 確認了數位資產的唯一所有權。它們最常用於數位藝術或收藏品，例如影片剪輯、迷因或線上遊戲中使用的物品。在 2022 年初加密貨幣熱潮達到頂峰時，在 Paris Hilton 和 Snoop Dogg 等名人的支持下，Bored Ape Yacht Club 和 CryptoPunks 等 NFT 系列的售價達到了數百萬美元。到當年 6 月，許多 NFT 系列的價格已經暴跌。

Prosecutors said in a court filing that “the success of Bored Apes drove demand for other ape-related NFTs. Against this backdrop, the defendant and his co-conspirators began advertising a new NFT project called ‘Mutant Ape Plant’ or MAP.”

檢察官在一份法庭文件中表示，「《Bored Apes》的成功推動了對其他與類人猿相關的 NFT 的需求。在此背景下，被告及其同謀開始宣傳一個名為「突變猿植物」或 MAP 的新 NFT 計畫。

Michel’s crimes were a modern “get-rich-quick scheme” designed to capitalize on the NFT craze, according to federal prosecutors Drew Rolle and Dylan Stern. They said he promised buyers rewards and benefits that never materialized, including a Mutant Ape cryptocurrency token he claimed would increase demand for their newly-acquired assets.

聯邦檢察官德魯·羅爾 (Drew Rolle) 和迪倫·斯特恩 (Dylan Stern) 表示，米歇爾的罪行是一項現代“快速致富計劃”，旨在利用 NFT 熱潮。他們表示，他向買家承諾了從未兌現的獎勵和福利，其中包括他聲稱將增加對他們新獲得的資產的需求的 Mutant Ape 加密貨幣代幣。

‘Rug Pull’ Scam

「地毯拉」騙局

This type of maneuver is known as a “rug pull,” when developers raise funds and then disappear without making good on any promises, prosecutors said.

檢察官表示，這種做法被稱為“地毯拉動”，即開發商籌集資金，然後在沒有兌現任何承諾的情況下消失。

After purchasers realized they’d been duped, Michel said in a social media post under a pseudonym that he “never intended” to defraud anyone, but claimed the “toxic” behavior within the NFT community led to the rug pull, according to the government. Prosecutors said he and his co-conspirators intentionally abandoned the project after collecting investor funds.

據政府稱，在購買者意識到自己被騙後，米歇爾在社交媒體上以化名發帖表示，他“從未打算”欺騙任何人，但聲稱NFT 社區內的“有毒”行為導致了人們的恐慌。檢察官稱，他和他的同謀在籌集投資者資金後故意放棄了該項目。

Ultimately, investors purchased the NFTs for $2,900 each, which led to the transfer of more than $2.9 million of cryptocurrency to two “digital wallets” Michel controlled, according to the government. Michel was arrested when he arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York in January 2023.

據政府稱，最終，投資者以每張 2,900 美元的價格購買了 NFT，這導致超過 290 萬美元的加密貨幣轉移到米歇爾控制的兩個「數位錢包」中。米歇爾於 2023 年 1 月抵達紐約約翰甘迺迪國際機場時被捕。

Fraud scams tied to crypto are on the rise, in part because the decentralized structure of digital markets makes them appealing for criminals and difficult for authorities to retrieve lost funds, according to the FBI. Investors lost a record $5.6 billion in 2023, up 45% from a year earlier, the agency said in a report.

據聯邦調查局稱，與加密貨幣相關的詐欺詐騙正在增加，部分原因是數位市場的去中心化結構對犯罪分子有吸引力，當局很難追回失去的資金。該機構在一份報告中稱，2023 年投資者損失創紀錄的 56 億美元，年增 45%。

Federal investigators also linked Michel to other well-known NFT scams, including “Fashion Ape” and “Crazy Camels” NFTs, according to Rolle and Stern. For each, once Michel and his co-conspirators sold more than $1 million of tokens, Michel and his co-conspirators abandoned the NFTs, the prosecutors said.

Rolle 和 Stern 表示，聯邦調查人員還將 Michel 與其他著名的 NFT 騙局聯繫起來，包括「時尚猿」和「瘋狂駱駝」NFT。檢察官表示，一旦米歇爾及其同謀出售了超過 100 萬美元的代幣，米歇爾及其同謀就放棄了 NFT。

The case is US v. Aurelien, 23-cr-418, US District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).

該案是美國訴 Aurelien，23-cr-418，美國紐約東區地方法院（布魯克林）。