Apr 26, 2023

Report NFT-funded project "Plush" appears to die with investors expected to lose $1.66 million.

A new report released in France this week reveals that backers of the French NFT-funded animated feature "Stuffed Animals" could lose approximately $1.66 million in funding.

Yann Philipp and Yumni Kesouf of France's Mediapart embarked on a thorough investigation into the status of the project, traveling around the world and discovering a large number of red flags that would indicate that "Plush" had no chance of being produced in the first place.

What is "Stuffed Toy" - Last summer, "Stuffed Toy" was launched as a feature-length animation project fully funded by NFT, with the promise that investors would not only help finance the film, but would also be credited as producers with a say in the script and would receive a significant profit based on their investment. The project promised to make a large profit on each investment.

Many popular French actors participated in the project, including comedian Kev Adams, who helped promote the film. American actress Bella Thorne was also advertised as being involved in the plush.

What is Plush promotion - Plush's promoters set up a huge display outside La Majestic in Cannes at last year's film festival, which drew a lot of attention.

In promoting the film online, they went all out to link the film with producer Illuminate, a major box office force. Adopting the name Illuminate as the official name of the company, the promoters told potential investors that they could earn a 516% return on their investment in Plush, using calculations from Illumination's catalog of successful films at the box office to arrive at that figure. The company also prominently featured Illumination's artwork on its website, touting the past association of several of its artists with Illumination films.

A complete sales pitch for the plush can still be found on the project's website.

Plush was to be produced by two French companies: the first, Rooftop Productions, was founded in 2020 by Gaëtan Simonot, who had previously worked on characters for Netflix's Arcane, a small studio. The other is Karlab, founded in 2016 by former Illumination employees Laurent Guittard and Ali Hamdan. Neither company had experience directing feature film productions, and there were concerns about whether they had the staff and expertise to lead such an ambitious project; both Simonot and Guittard told Mediapart that they are not involved in marketing the film or selling NFT, but are instead working with the studio's production team to develop the film, stressed that they had only signed on to work on the animation

and that they were not involved in the marketing of the film or the sale of the NFT.

Mr. Guittard stated that he had actually contacted Illuminart to correct misleading promotional materials. One of their first contacts was that it was "by the people who created Minions." They told me not to say that, but it is true that my colleagues and I were involved in the production of Minions."

NFT sales: when 50,000 Plush tokens went live in France on May 18, 2022, sales were rough: according to Illuminart, the company only sold 1,280 NFTs for $1,290 each, generating about $1.65 million in sales. in June, international sale was launched, but its sales were only modest. Since then, the stuffed NFT has lost almost all of its value. Only 14 have been resold since last September, at an average price of 0.15 et cetera, or about $275. There are currently 776 individual holders of Plush NFTs.

The Real Illuminati As things got worse, people began asking more specific questions about the company behind the project. Now Mediapart has some answers.Illuminart was run by a relatively mysterious individual calling himself Fabi. He did not appear in the film's early promotional materials, but in a promotional video he later produced with Adams, he wore a stuffed bear and claimed to be working with a group of anonymous investors.

It also turns out that despite positioning Plush as wholly French, Illuminate was actually registered in Dubai, one of the most popular tax havens in the world. This is important because it means that investors are not protected under French or European consumer law.

When the company's business license was leaked on Twitter last year, the NFT holders discovered that its registered name was "Illuminart calligraphers and painters" in English and "The minaret rental of horses and camels for excursions" in Arabic, and they were concerned that neither of these names appeared to have anything to do with film production. According to Fabi, who addressed this concern at the time, the latter was an error on the part of the Dubai Ministry of Economy.

The purpose of the company as stated in the document was the same in both languages, and again had nothing to do with animation, film production, or the sale of NFT. According to the license, the purpose of the company was "the manufacture of decorative sculptures, the manufacture of frames, crafts, calligraphy and paintings."

Who is Fabi - After some research, Mediapart discovered that Fabi's true identity is Fabien Treff, a 44-year-old French businessman and the sole shareholder of Illuminato. Treff has lived in Dubai since 2018, and when he applied for the Plush trademark, he declared that he lives year-round in the royal suite of a palace in Dubai, a place he denied having been reserved in Treff's name. Little is known about his current work, but Tollef is well known in the poker world and has invested heavily in cryptocurrencies. He has no experience in film production.

Red herring: In 2016, French prosecutors investigated Tref after receiving a report from Tracfin (an anti-money laundering agency) tagging Tref with large gambling winnings and large cash bets made by Tref In an interview with Mediapart, Tref's lawyer said he stated that he had never been convicted. Over the past 20 years, Tref has engaged in a number of sketchy ventures outlined in the Mediapart report. It also outlines several close relationships with other individuals who have had ties to less-than-legitimate businesses in the past.

Is Plush really dead - For the past nine months, there has been silence from Tref and the real power behind the Plush project. The organization's website no longer sells NFTs, several social media platforms have locked comments, and Illuminart did not renew its Dubai business license, which expired in February.