A class-action lawsuit has been filed against YouTuber and wrestler Logan Paul for “fraudulent conduct” related to his NFT game, CryptoZoo.
Logan Paul’s CryptoZoo turned out to be somewhat of a hoax, according to Stephen “Coffeezilla” Findeisen, a YouTuber who investigates fraudsters and bogus gurus in the cryptocurrency industry. Because Paul’s team proactively sold the in-game currency, zoo coins, before anyone else, CryptoZoo, a blockchain game that was intended to operate as passive income for Paul’s enthusiastic followers and early investors, really ended up being a rug pull for just about everyone involved. According to Coffeezilla’s multi-part investigative series, other people interested in the “game” lost hundreds or even thousands of dollars, except for some of the people employed to work on CryptoZoo, who reportedly profited thousands of dollars.
Coffeezilla’s year-long research first incensed Paul, who referred to him as the “Keemstar of crypto in finance” and threatened to sue him in a since-deleted YouTube video. Paul has recently retracted the claim, offering an apology to his followers and Coffeezilla in addition to a three-step plan to “complete and deliver” CryptoZoo, which has been essentially broken since its inception in August 2021. Paul is currently the target of a class-action lawsuit, as Coffeezilla noted in a tweet on February 3.
The lawsuit was brought in the city of Austin by the plaintiff, a Texas police officer who invested around $3,000 of his own money in CryptoZoo in the hopes that it would generate significant profits. The plaintiff is requesting damages of more than $75,000 for “conspiracy to conduct fraud,” “fraudulent representations,” “negligence,” “unjust enrichment,” and other offenses, according to the lawsuit Kotaku read. Paul and former head developer Eddie Ibanez were two of the individuals mentioned by the lawsuit as having contributed to the game’s design. In the end, the plaintiff demands compensation for a wide range of losses, including legal fees, litigation expenses, civil fines, and mental anguish.
Paul was contacted by Kotaku for comment.
Since the case was filed, Paul has not at all replied. He did, however, appear (and sustain his injury) on January 28 at WWE’s 2023 Royal Rumble competition. Since the beginning of February, his Impaulsive podcast and YouTube channels have been rather silent. But despite all of this, Paul’s image will feature in the March 17 release of WWE 2K23 from producer Visual Concepts.