U.S. YouTube star Logan Paul is facing renewed scrutiny over his cryptocurrency activities, amid ongoing concerns that he may have misled his watchers for personal gain.
The BBC reported Wednesday that it had uncovered new evidence showing that Paul promoted certain investments while hiding his financial stake. The YouTuber, who has 23.6 million subscribers, apparently influenced the prices of investments, raising suspicions that he was selling tokens for profit.
In 2021, Paul actively promoted meme coins, which are generally considered high-risk assets. The BBC reported evidence linking the anonymous portfolio to Paul’s known portfolio. That wallet reportedly traded Elongate, an Elon Musk-themed meme coin , just before Paul’s promotional tweet.
The unknown wallet bought the token for nearly $160,000 about an hour before Paul’s tweet. The tweet was followed by new buyers, which raised the price of the token. Twelve hours later, the wallet sold most of its tokens, earning more than $120,000 in profit.
These findings are in line with a Time magazine report that showed a similar pattern with another cryptocurrency and an anonymous wallet. “Elongate has made me richer,” – declared Paul in a video shared with the subscription-based Maverick Club fan community.
Logan Paul initially avoided discussing the investigation with the BBC, evading them for months. He eventually apparently changed his stance, inviting the BBC to an interview at his gym in Puerto Rico.
However, when the team arrived, a double appeared instead, the report said. Soon after, a disruptive crowd harassed the BBC team, it said. Following the incident, Paul’s lawyers sent a legal notice warning the BBC against publishing their findings.
Separately, Logan Paul is currently facing a class action lawsuit related to his failed NFT project, CryptoZoo. The lawsuit accuses Paul and his team of abandoning the project after raising investor funds. The participants claim that the game never worked as promised and claim that CryptoZoo was a fake project.
Meanwhile, Paul has filed a defamation lawsuit against YouTuber Stephen Findeisen, known as Coffeezilla. Paul claims that Findeisen ‘s reports on CryptoZoo falsely portrayed him as cheating his viewers.
