The following day, the project announced that control was back in the hands of Orange, Mitchell, Jango, and one other team member, and that the founders would be departing the project. The remaining team also announced that 105 ETH would be returned back to the project; they didn't address the 73 remaining ETH (around $220,000) that was reportedly taken by the founders.
Jacked Ape Club NFT project team erupts in chaos
The team behind Jacked Ape Club, another NFT project featuring computer-generated apes, briefly erupted in chaos, shaking the confidence of many in the project. Several days prior, the project's initial sale finished with a bit more of a whimper than a bang. Team members Orange, Mitchell, and Jango were suddenly kicked out of the project and blocked by the remaining team. The founding members of the team said they simply removed the trio because their work was done, and because they said they weren't going to continue doing work for the project without further payments (how unreasonable!). However, it appeared that the remaining team members subsequently withdrew 178 ETH (a little more than $500,000) — 39% of the money in the project — leading some to believe they were rug pulling.