Yeah, I think we can safely assume this was a huge scam!
If you Google Julien Chalte in the news, you also get this : https://www.nouvelobs.com/politique/20151028.OBS8477/le-cabinet-noir-de-la-sarkozie-finalement-condamne.html
Now I don't speak French, but a quick Google translate shows that the guy was involved in dark places in French politics... I would not be surprised if he just left France because he was blacklisted over there. Julien Chalte is clearly a scammer and dangerous.
Raphael Tant is a scammer too I think. I managed to talk with an ex-team member a few months ago, he would not chat with me because he did not want anything in written. What he said on the phone was that basically, when the ether were raised, there were promises made by Raphael that were never kept. For him, it started to look like Raphael wanted to scam everybody and keep the money and run with it, so he left the company.
Looks like it's exactly what Raphael did. Pathetic. But what did you expect from people who are apparently mixed with shady individuals.
Hopefully nobody invested large sums in this project.