YouTube Influencers Sued for $1 Billion Over FTX Endorsement

Plaintiff Edwin Garrison filed a class action complaint on March 15 against YouTube Influencers who marketed FTX, seeking $1B in damages. The lawsuit aims to hold influencers accountable for the losses of FTX investors. As a result, independent experts and several defendants provided their perspectives.

In a bombshell court filing, YouTube influencers face legal repercussions for promoting FTX. The class action complaint alleges that these social media stars knowingly provided financial advice and aggressively marketed FTX to their massive audiences while concealing the true nature of their sponsorship and endorsement deals. With millions of followers and billions of views between them, the plaintiff argues that these influencers should be held accountable for their actions.

As per the official statement, FTX allegedly compensated the Defendants with a sizable sum for promoting their brand and enticing their followers to invest in it. Nonetheless, the Defendants purportedly failed to disclose the full extent of their sponsorships or endorsement agreements and neglected to conduct adequate due diligence. These alleged omissions and lapses are at the heart of the $1 billion lawsuit that has sent shockwaves through the influencer marketing industry.

In the $1 billion lawsuit, the defendants are YouTube influencers accused of violating advertising laws and misleading their followers during a high-stakes promotional campaign for FTX. The influencers include Erika Kullberg, Graham Stephan, Kevin Paffrath, Brian Jung, Jeremy Lefebvre, Tom Nash, Ben Armstrong, Jaspreet Singh, Andrei Jikh, and Creators Agency, LLC, who face legal action.

FTX lawsuit update: Paffrath’s statement

Kevin Paffrath, better known as Meet Kevin, has broken his silence regarding the FTX lawsuit by speaking with Internet Detective Coffeezilla. In his interview, Paffrath vehemently denied any wrongdoing, specifically rejecting claims that he was responsible for any losses suffered by investors. Paffrath also hinted at the possibility of making a charitable payment to address the matter but clarified that he did not feel obligated to do so.

🚨BREAKING: Youtubers promoting FTX are being sued in a class action lawsuit. Claiming $1 billion in damages. 😬💀 pic.twitter.com/n2rg4k302P

— Coffeezilla (@coffeebreak_YT) March 16, 2023

According to other sources, Paffrath likewise denied the charge of non-disclosure of endorsements. Paffrath noted that he exposes his sponsored films regularly and that all of his FTX videos have disclaimers saying that they are.

BitBoy’s bold countersuit threat

Another defendant, Ben Armstrong (BitBoy Crypto), criticized the case on Twitter and threatened a countersuit. Armstrong said he had never paid for FTX sponsorships and had no business dealings with the firm.

Countersuit coming. The lawyers on this case can’t possibly be more stupid. I’ve never had contact with anyone at FTX and never even had a reflink.

Show me you are dumb without telling me you are dumb.

I’m going to roast these Low IQ plebs and their lawyers https://t.co/1y2ct85vFq

— Bitboy Crypto (@Bitboy_Crypto) March 16, 2023

In a surprising twist, well-known YouTuber and legal expert LegalEagle has called out the YouTube Influencer Lawsuit as a mere “copy and paste job” of an earlier claim related to FTX. According to LegalEagle, the same lawyers, plaintiffs, and accusations and a previous lawsuit involving high-profile names like Tom Brady are present in this case. These revelations raise questions about the true motivations behind the suit and whether it has any legal basis.

Nevertheless, the majority of netizens seem to be out for blood. Several tweets citing the case aim to hold cryptocurrency influencers liable for the FTX losses.