{"investigation":{"slug":"evolved-apes","entity_name":"Evolved Apes","trust_score":2,"severity_base":null,"score_modifier":0,"confidence":0.92,"status":"published","content_type":"investigation","summary":"Evolved Apes was a 10,000-piece Ethereum NFT collection that launched in late September 2021 with promises of an accompanying blockchain fighting game. Within one week of mint, the anonymous developer known as 'Evil Ape' disappeared with approximately 798 ETH (~$2.7 million USD), taking down the project's website and Twitter account. In June 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice charged three UK nationals — Mohamed-Amin Atcha, Mohamed Rilaz Waleedh, and Daood Hassan — with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with the scheme.","sections":[{"content":"Evolved Apes was marketed as a collection of 10,000 unique algorithmically generated NFTs hosted on the Ethereum blockchain and sold through OpenSea. The project's promotional materials described the NFTs as depicting apes 'trapped inside a lawless land, fighting for survival,' and promised buyers that each NFT would function as a playable character in a forthcoming blockchain-based battle royale fighting game. Proceeds from the public mint were publicly committed to funding game development, paying a commissioned digital artist, running marketing campaigns, distributing cash giveaways to social media competition winners, and building broader ecosystem infrastructure. The project attracted significant early interest, with the initial NFT drop reportedly selling out within approximately ten minutes of launch.","heading":"Project Overview and Promises","sources":[{"url":"https://www.vice.com/en/article/investors-spent-millions-on-evolved-apes-nfts-then-they-got-scammed/","name":"Investors Spent Millions on 'Evolved Apes' NFTs. Then They Got Scammed — VICE","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.cbr.com/evolved-apes-nft-disappears-3-million/","name":"Evolved Apes NFT Creator Disappears With Nearly $3 Million in Investor Funds — CBR","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://opensea.io/collection/evolved-apes-inc","name":"Evolved Apes Inc — OpenSea Collection","type":"other","credibility":2}],"severity":"medium"},{"content":"Approximately one week after the public sale on or around September 24, 2021, the anonymous developer operating under the pseudonym 'Evil Ape' executed a rug pull. The developer unilaterally withdrew approximately 798 ETH — valued at roughly $2.7 million USD at the time — from the project's treasury wallet through a series of blockchain transactions. The sole-signatory structure of the project wallet meant no other party could block or reverse the transfers. Simultaneously, Evil Ape deleted the project's official website and Twitter account, severing all official communication channels. Investors discovered the scam when community members noticed that winners of social media competitions had not received their promised NFT prizes and that the contracted digital artist had not been paid for their work. The project's 4% secondary-market royalty mechanism continued directing commissions to the developer's address even after the disappearance, allowing Evil Ape to passively extract additional funds from secondary trading activity.","heading":"The Rug Pull — Exit Scam Execution","sources":[{"url":"https://www.halborn.com/blog/post/explained-the-evolved-apes-rug-pull-september-2021","name":"Explained: The Evolved Apes Rug Pull — Halborn Security","type":"research","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.cryptoglobe.com/latest/2021/10/creator-of-evolved-apes-nft-collection-disappears-with-798-eth-worth-2-7m/","name":"Creator of 'Evolved Apes' NFT Collection Disappears With 798 ETH Worth $2.7M — Cryptoglobe","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://marketrealist.com/p/evolved-apes-rug-pull-details/","name":"Evolved Apes Rug Pull: NFT Creator Vanished With $2.7 Million — Market Realist","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://beincrypto.com/nft-rug-pull-evolved-apes-creator-disappears-2-7m/","name":"Another NFT Rug Pull: 'Evolved Apes' Creator Disappears with $2.7M — BeInCrypto","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"critical"},{"content":"In June 2024, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced criminal charges against three UK nationals alleged to be the individuals behind the Evolved Apes scheme: Mohamed-Amin Atcha (age 23), Mohamed Rilaz Waleedh (age 23), and Daood Hassan (age 23). Each defendant was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, with each count carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams characterized the conduct as follows: 'The defendants ran a scam to drive up the price of digital artwork through false promises about developing a videogame.' According to prosecutors, Waleedh identified himself as the project's lead marketing manager and at one point attempted to withdraw stuck funds from a cryptocurrency exchange, subsequently transferring those assets to an address controlled by Hassan. An unnamed social media influencer was allegedly hired to promote the project as part of the scheme. The charges represented one of the comparatively rare instances of criminal prosecution for an NFT rug pull scheme.","heading":"Federal Criminal Charges — DOJ SDNY (2024)","sources":[{"url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/three-united-kingdom-nationals-charged-connection-evolved-apes-nft-scam","name":"Three United Kingdom Nationals Charged In Connection With 'Evolved Apes' NFT Scam — DOJ SDNY","type":"regulatory","credibility":1},{"url":"https://decrypt.co/234302/evolved-apes-nft-game-ethereum-crypto-rug-pull","name":"Feds Charge UK Nationals With $3 Million 'Evolved Apes' Ethereum NFT Scam — Decrypt","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/06/06/us-charges-three-in-connection-with-evolved-apes-nft-scam","name":"U.S. Charges Three in Connection With Evolved Apes NFT Scam — CoinDesk","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.dlnews.com/articles/regulation/us-charges-three-in-connection-with-nft-rugpull-scam/","name":"US charges three UK nationals in Evolved Apes NFT fraud scheme — DL News","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-prosecutors-charge-3-tied-to-evolved-apes-nft-scam","name":"NY Attorney charges 3 tied to 'Evolved Apes' NFT scam — CoinTelegraph","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"critical"},{"content":"In the weeks following the rug pull, a group of Evolved Apes NFT holders organized a grassroots recovery initiative under the name Fight Back Apes (FBA). Four community members — identified publicly as Mike Scott, Jen Farmer, Jamie Elkaleh, and Josh Bull — emerged as project leaders. The community's stated goal was to fulfill the original promises of Evolved Apes: building the fighting game and restoring value to existing NFT holders. FBA announced that original Evolved Apes holders would be eligible to claim free Fight Back Apes NFTs (paying only gas fees) for each original NFT they held. A key structural safeguard adopted by FBA was a multi-signature wallet arrangement requiring approval from multiple parties before any funds could be moved, directly addressing the single-point-of-control vulnerability that enabled the original rug pull. FBA subsequently partnered with Daz 3D to produce a collection of fully rigged, customizable 3D NFT avatars designed for use in virtual reality, motion capture, gaming, and social applications. Whether the promised fighting game was ultimately delivered is not definitively established by available sources.","heading":"Community Response — Fight Back Apes","sources":[{"url":"https://www.vice.com/en/article/investors-spent-millions-on-evolved-apes-nfts-then-they-got-scammed/","name":"Investors Spent Millions on 'Evolved Apes' NFTs. Then They Got Scammed — VICE","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/daz-3d-and-fight-back-apes-announce-stunning-nft-collection-bringing-renewed-value-to-the-community-301491357.html","name":"Daz 3D and Fight Back Apes Announce Stunning NFT Collection — PR Newswire","type":"other","credibility":2},{"url":"https://venturebeat.com/games/fight-back-apes-battle-for-a-better-world/","name":"Fight Back Apes — VentureBeat","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"low"},{"content":"Post-mortem analyses of the Evolved Apes project identified several structural features that, in hindsight, facilitated the fraud. The project's treasury was controlled by a single externally owned wallet with no multi-signature requirement, meaning Evil Ape alone had unrestricted access to all minting proceeds at all times. The developer and broader team operated entirely under pseudonyms with no verified real-world identities disclosed to investors prior to the mint. The project's smart contract included a secondary-market royalty mechanism (approximately 4%) that continued to route fees to the developer's address with no community override capability. The promised fighting game had no publicly auditable development progress, no third-party technical partners, and no verifiable code repository at the time of mint. Security firm Halborn documented this case as an illustrative example of rug pull mechanics, noting that the absence of a time-locked or multi-sig treasury is a consistent enabling factor across similar schemes. The Evolved Apes case is frequently cited in subsequent NFT security discussions as a canonical example of the risks posed by anonymous, single-operator NFT projects.","heading":"Structural Red Flags and Risk Factors","sources":[{"url":"https://www.halborn.com/blog/post/explained-the-evolved-apes-rug-pull-september-2021","name":"Explained: The Evolved Apes Rug Pull — Halborn Security","type":"research","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.techtimes.com/articles/266311/20211006/evolved-apes-nft-developer-disappears-along-2-7-million-ether.htm","name":"'Evolved Apes' NFT Developer Disappears Along with $2.7 Million in Ether of Funds — TechTimes","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.quadrigainitiative.com/casestudy/evolvedapesrugpull.php","name":"Oct 2021 — Evolved Apes Rug Pull Case Study — Quadriga Initiative","type":"research","credibility":2}],"severity":"high"},{"content":"The Evolved Apes incident occurred during a period of peak NFT market activity in late 2021, when high-profile collections were generating tens of millions of dollars and mainstream media coverage was drawing new, often inexperienced buyers into the market. The case was widely covered by mainstream technology and culture outlets including VICE and PC Gamer, contributing to growing public awareness of rug pull mechanics. CoinDesk noted that the June 2024 charges represented rare criminal accountability in a sector where most rug pull perpetrators are never identified or prosecuted. Blockchain security firm Quantstamp estimated that rug pulls across the crypto ecosystem totaled approximately $760 million in losses in 2023 alone, suggesting the problem expanded substantially after the Evolved Apes incident helped draw regulatory attention. The Southern District of New York's prosecution is considered a significant precedent for applying wire fraud and money laundering statutes to NFT exit scam schemes, potentially signaling increased federal scrutiny of similar projects.","heading":"Broader Context and Industry Impact","sources":[{"url":"https://www.pcgamer.com/evolved-apes-nft-creator-evil-ape-disappears-with-dollar27m/","name":"'Evolved Apes' NFT creator Evil Ape disappears with $2.7M — PC Gamer","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/06/06/us-charges-three-in-connection-with-evolved-apes-nft-scam","name":"U.S. Charges Three in Connection With Evolved Apes NFT Scam — CoinDesk","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://bitcoinist.com/ny-court-charges-three-individuals-linked-to-3-million-nft-scam/","name":"NFT Scam: NY Court Charges Suspects Linked To $3M Rug Pull — Bitcoinist","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://nftnewstoday.com/2024/06/07/evolved-ape-creators-face-20-years-for-alleged-fraud/","name":"Evolved Ape Creators Face 20 Years for Alleged Fraud — NFT News Today","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"high"}],"timeline":[{"date":"2021-09-24","event":"Evolved Apes public mint launches on OpenSea. The 10,000-NFT collection reportedly sells out within approximately ten minutes.","source":"Cryptoglobe / BeInCrypto","source_url":"https://www.cryptoglobe.com/latest/2021/10/creator-of-evolved-apes-nft-collection-disappears-with-798-eth-worth-2-7m/"},{"date":"2021-10","event":"Approximately one week after mint, 'Evil Ape' withdraws approximately 798 ETH (~$2.7M) from the project treasury in multiple transactions, then deletes the official website and Twitter account.","source":"VICE / Halborn Security","source_url":"https://www.vice.com/en/article/investors-spent-millions-on-evolved-apes-nfts-then-they-got-scammed/","date_original":"2021-10-01"},{"date":"2021-10-05","event":"VICE publishes the first major investigative piece on the Evolved Apes scam, confirming the rug pull and documenting community reactions.","source":"VICE","source_url":"https://www.vice.com/en/article/investors-spent-millions-on-evolved-apes-nfts-then-they-got-scammed/"},{"date":"2021-10-06","event":"Multiple crypto outlets including BeInCrypto and CoinTelegraph publish coverage confirming the 798 ETH theft and noting the artist was never paid.","source":"BeInCrypto","source_url":"https://beincrypto.com/nft-rug-pull-evolved-apes-creator-disappears-2-7m/"},{"date":"2021-10-07","event":"Community members including Mike Scott, Jen Farmer, Jamie Elkaleh, and Josh Bull announce the Fight Back Apes initiative, pledging to fulfill original project promises using a multi-signature treasury.","source":"VICE / PR Newswire","source_url":"https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/daz-3d-and-fight-back-apes-announce-stunning-nft-collection-bringing-renewed-value-to-the-community-301491357.html"},{"date":"2022-02","event":"Fight Back Apes announces a partnership with Daz 3D to produce a 3D NFT collection for original Evolved Apes holders, with free mints planned for existing holders.","source":"PR Newswire","source_url":"https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/daz-3d-and-fight-back-apes-announce-stunning-nft-collection-bringing-renewed-value-to-the-community-301491357.html","date_original":"2022-02-01"},{"date":"2024-06-06","event":"The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announces charges against three UK nationals — Mohamed-Amin Atcha, Mohamed Rilaz Waleedh, and Daood Hassan — for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with the Evolved Apes scheme.","source":"DOJ SDNY Press Release","source_url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/three-united-kingdom-nationals-charged-connection-evolved-apes-nft-scam"}],"sources_used":[{"url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/three-united-kingdom-nationals-charged-connection-evolved-apes-nft-scam","name":"Three United Kingdom Nationals Charged In Connection With 'Evolved Apes' NFT Scam — DOJ SDNY","type":"regulatory","archive_url":"http://web.archive.org/web/20260524150920/https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/three-united-kingdom-nationals-charged-connection-evolved-apes-nft-scam","credibility":1,"archive_timestamp":"2026-05-24T15:09:20+00:00"},{"url":"https://www.vice.com/en/article/investors-spent-millions-on-evolved-apes-nfts-then-they-got-scammed/","name":"Investors Spent Millions on 'Evolved Apes' NFTs. 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