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US Department of Justice Files Charges Against Baller Ape Club Rug Pull

2 mins
Updated by Geraint Price
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In Brief

  • The United States Department of Justice filed charges against an individual for the Baller Ape Club rug pull, as well as others.
  • Officials have made it clear that they will enforce strict action on those who break the law.
  • The U.S. DOJ and others have accelerated their scrutiny of the crypto market.
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The United States Department of Justice has filed charges in four separate cases against the Baller Ape Club. It is currently undertaking four separate cases, with six individuals being charged with different crimes.

Six individuals are being charged with various crimes in four separate cases.

The official notice said described the charges as:

“The largest known non-fungible token (NFT) scheme charged to date, a fraudulent investment fund that purportedly traded on cryptocurrency exchanges, a global Ponzi scheme involving the sale of unregistered crypto securities, and a fraudulent initial coin offering. ”

U.S. attorneys and other officials were clear about their willingness to enforce action on scams in the crypto market. They intend to find and hold accountable those who conduct scams in the market, saying:

“These cases serve as a crucial reminder that some con artists hide behind trendy buzzwords, but at the end of the day, they are simply seeking to separate people from their money. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to educate and protect potential investors about both traditional and trendy investments.”

Baller Ape’s Le Anh Tuan charged

In regard to the Baller Ape NFT, the DOJ is filing a case against Le Anh Tuan on charges of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit international money laundering. They state that Tuan and co-conspirators conducted a rug pull, which led to a theft of $2.6 million.

Several U.S. government agencies have been increasing the intensity with which they have been examining the crypto market. The DOJ is the latest to join this list, laying its first criminal crypto sanctions charge in May 2022.

The agency also recruited a crypto attorney to help with these matters in the middle of 2021. About six months later, it appointed a crypto enforcement team leader, just as when the FBI launched a crypto unit.

U.S. authorities are beginning to take the crypto market very seriously, both for the economic implications it has and the use of the assets in illicit activities. North Korea and its use of crypto to fund its weapons program, for example, is a high priority.

Crypto companies will have to be tight with their security to prevent any unwanted attention. OpenSea recently warned users on how to protect themselves after an employee from its email delivery vendor misused customer data.

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Rahul Nambiampurath
Rahul Nambiampurath's cryptocurrency journey first began in 2014 when he stumbled upon Satoshi's Bitcoin whitepaper. With a bachelor's degree in Commerce and an MBA in Finance from Sikkim Manipal University, he was among the few that first recognized the sheer untapped potential of decentralized technologies. Since then, he has helped DeFi platforms like Balancer and Sidus Heroes — a web3 metaverse — as well as CEXs like Bitso (Mexico's biggest) and Overbit to reach new heights with his...
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