- Consumers who purchased Frosties claimed they had fallen victim to a rug pull.
- Both 20-year-olds face up to 20 years in jail if found guilty.
Investors of an NFT collection were duped out of $1 million by two guys in their twenties who have been detained as they plotted their next launch. Frosties, a non-fungible collection by Ethan Nguyen and Andre Llacuna, has been accused of rug pull. Instead of the promised benefits, persons who purchased these NFTs were accused of “transferring the cryptocurrency proceeds of the scheme to various wallets under their control,” according to a press release.
Additional $1.5 Million
It’s estimated that the couple was about to introduce a new set of NFTs dubbed Embers, which would have earned an additional $1.5 million in profits. Frostie, jakefiftyeight, Jobo, Joboethan, and Meltfrost were just a few of the identities that Nguyen used.
As a result, consumers who purchased Frosties claimed they had fallen victim to a rug pull — when artists obtain financing and then quit a project while retaining the cash, an inquiry was launched. The Frosties project was said to have been abandoned by Nguyen and Llacuna only hours after the NFT transaction was finalized in January 2022 — and their next project, Embers, was set to debut on March 26 the same year.
As a result, both 20-year-olds face up to 20 years in jail if found guilty on one count each of conspiracy to conduct wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The popularity of NFTs has exploded in the last year or two, and the US Department of Justice is now prosecuting fraud opportunists who are trying to cash in on the crypto trend for the first time.
