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Logan Paul accused of misleading fans over cryptocurrency investments
Getty ImagesLogan Paul, the massively popular social media personality, is facing fresh questions over his cryptocurrency dealings amid ongoing concerns he may have profited from misleading fans.
The BBC has seen new evidence suggesting he promoted investments without revealing he had a financial interest in them.
The influence of Paul – whose YouTube channel has more than 23 million followers – appears to have caused prices in these investments to spike, leading to suggestions he could have profited from sales of any tokens he held.
Paul also currently faces a multi-million-dollar lawsuit over a failed crypto project called CryptoZoo.
He denies any wrongdoing.
The BBC has discovered that shortly before Paul tweeted about a particular crypto coin in 2021, an anonymous crypto wallet with close connections to his public wallet had traded in the coin.
That anonymous wallet went on to make a $120,000 (£92,000) profit.
Crypto wallets (which can be physical devices or an online service) hold users’ keys to their accounts, and let people send, receive and spend crypto.
Our finding comes after Time Magazine reported similar activity involving a different cryptocurrency and another anonymous wallet.
For several months, Paul refused to talk to the BBC about our investigation. Then he appeared to relent, inviting us to interview him at his gym in Puerto Rico.
However, when our crew arrived, a Logan Paul lookalike turned up in the YouTuber’s place, shortly followed by a crowd shouting abuse about the BBC.
Minutes after abandoning the interview, we received a lawyer’s letter on behalf of Paul, warning us of the possible consequences if we published our findings.
Meme coins
Logan Paul built a worldwide following as an internet celebrity by uploading short video clips, first to the now-closed platform Vine, and then on YouTube.
About three years ago, Paul’s videos began mentioning cryptocurrency (crypto, as it is commonly known) more and more.
Crypto is a form of digital money that uses secure technology to work, without the need for a central bank.
In 2021, Paul promoted a series of extremely high-risk crypto tokens called “meme coins”.
These are usually inspired by internet jokes or memes and are supported by online communities. Meme coins have no other real purpose other than to be traded and, since they have no intrinsic worth, their value can – and often does – drop to zero.
Paul extolled the virtues of an Elon Musk-themed meme coin known as Elongate. “Elongate made me rich. Elon baby let’s go!” Paul announced in a video clip to Maverick Club, his subscription-only fan club.
Following this namecheck, the price of Elongate rose by over 6,000% to an all-time high. It then remained at that price for a few hours before it crashed.
We cannot be sure of Logan Paul’s intentions when he released his clip. However, it seems likely that his mention of Elongate affected its price.
Tech journalist Will Gotsegen says crypto is a market driven to some extent by social media and influencers: “A big guy with a lot of influence… someone like Logan Paul, buys a tonne of crypto and tells their followers about it. They’re going to buy it too.”
Getty ImagesThe anonymous crypto wallet analysed by the BBC appears to have close connections to Paul.
Anyone can see the transactions made by a wallet, but the owner can choose to remain anonymous. If an owner attaches their name or personal details it becomes a public wallet.
We could see that the wallet first received funds in February 2021 from a public wallet owned by Logan Paul. It then started buying and trading crypto.
Logan Paul: Bad Influence?
Logan Paul, one of the biggest social media influencers in the world, is facing criticism for his role in promoting cryptocurrency projects. Matt Shea investigates the allegations.
Speaking to law enforcement and alleged victims, and trying to get close to the man himself, Shea seeks to finally answer the question: did Logan Paul do anything wrong?
Watch on BBC Three at 21:00, 20 November or on BBC iPlayer shortly after broadcast
The wallet was later paid funds from Maverick Club and held Elongate when Paul promoted it on 10 May 2021.
Shortly after, it also traded in another Musk-related meme coin – after Paul had tweeted that it was headed “to the moon”. In the crypto community, this means someone believes the price of the coin is about to shoot up.
About an hour before Paul’s tweet, the unknown wallet purchased almost $160,000 (£123,000) worth of the token. The tweet prompted an influx of buyers, spiking the price.
Twelve hours later, the wallet sold most of its holding. The total profit made from this trade appears to be just over $120,000 (£92,000).
Logan Paul chose not to respond to the BBC’s allegations regarding the crypto wallet, the trading that occurred within it, or his connection to it, despite responding to some of our other requests via his legal team.
Dink Doink
In June 2021, Paul also promoted a meme coin called “Dink Doink”.
Anyone who bought it would own shares in a cartoon character that resembled a metal coil. They would earn a portion of its earnings if it appeared in a TV show or film.
Paul promoted the token on Twitter (as the site was then known), and told a Telegram group dedicated to Dink Doink that he “believed” in it, saying: “I think it’s going to go crazy.”
Again, this led to a huge influx of buyers, causing Dink Doink’s value to spike. Then – following a familiar pattern – large-scale holders of the token began selling, causing its price to fall by 96% in just two weeks.
Time Magazine analysed another anonymous wallet that had bought Dink Doink prior to Logan Paul’s promotion of the coin and then sold its holding shortly after. This wallet later sent $100,000 (£78,000) to Paul’s public wallet.
When the BBC asked the influencer about this wallet, his lawyers did not deny that it belonged to him, or was held for his benefit, but were adamant that the $100,000 that was transferred was not related to Dink Doink.
They do accept that Paul traded Dink Doink, but say he only made $17,000 (£13,400).
Puerto Rico
For several months, Paul refused to be interviewed by the BBC.
Then, unexpectedly, he agreed to talk to us at the boxing gym in Puerto Rico that he co-owns with his brother.
We sent Paul a list of the allegations we wanted him to respond to, and his PR team requested we travel to the Caribbean island, so he could answer in person.
They also insisted we flew into the island while it was being pummeled by Tropical Storm Ernesto, which had knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people.
At the gym, we noticed a strange atmosphere – with a suspicious number of his own cameras pointed at us. Paul’s assistant insisted our cameras should be recording from the moment the star entered the room, because of his strict schedule and timekeeping.
Then things became even stranger. Instead of Logan Paul, a lookalike arrived and sat down in front of our reporter, Matt Shea, and began impersonating the YouTuber.
We called him out and began complaining to Paul’s assistant, asking whether the real Logan Paul would be coming. At that moment, a group of people suddenly appeared, apparently from nowhere, wielding banners and shouting that the BBC were “paedophiles”.
We had flown all that way just to be trolled.
In the past few years, a number of celebrities have run into legal trouble for promoting crypto to followers without disclosing that they had vested interests.
Kim Kardashian was fined $1.26m (£1m) in 2022 for promoting a token called EthereumMax on her Instagram account.
According to Gary Gensler, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the body policing the US investment industry, if a celebrity is promoting a particular crypto token, they are “supposed to tell you if they get paid, how much they get paid, whether they own the tokens, whether they made money on the tokens, whether they actually know something about the project”.
CryptoZoo
Logan Paul is now facing a lawsuit concerning his next venture in crypto – CryptoZoo.
This was marketed as an online trading card game, but instead of cards, CryptoZoo was to use NFTs (non-fungible tokens) – collectible pieces of digital art that can have a value of their own.
To play CryptoZoo, it was necessary to buy a cryptocurrency called Zoo Token, that could then be used to buy NFT “eggs”.
These eggs were supposed to eventually hatch into NFT “animals” that would breed and give birth to NFT “hybrid animals” with names like penguin-shark and panda-fin.
Paul’s team claimed these hybrid animals would somehow make participants money by passively generating more Zoo Tokens.
“It’s a really fun game that makes you money,” he told his audience shortly ahead of the launch in September 2021.
CryptoZoo attracted about $18.5m (£14.3m) in investment.
Rueben Tauk – a 21-year-old from north-east England – was among the Logan Paul fans who bought into CryptoZoo.
“I was really excited to be part of something that he was doing.”
However, the game was beset by problems from the moment it was released.
“We were given certain expectations about features that would be released,” Rueben told us. “A lot of the time those features wouldn’t work.
“After a certain point, you start to realise that something’s wrong.”
The value of the Zoo Tokens and the eggs started to plummet. Rueben says he personally lost £33,000.
At least 130 investors are now involved in a lawsuit against Paul (Rueben is not one of them). They claim they lost about $4.2m (£3.25m).
The lawyer behind the claim, Tom Kherkher – himself a popular YouTuber on legal affairs – says the failure to deliver the game forms only part of the case.
He says leaked messages reveal Paul and his team were involved in a “stealth launch” of the Zoo Tokens, allowing them to quietly buy in at a low price.
“The team appeared to agree that they can begin selling once the total value of all the Zoo Token in circulation hits $200m [£157m],” he says.
“If you had that document with that exact verbiage issued by a CEO of a publicly traded company, they would be charged with fraud in two seconds. That is insider trading.”
Paul has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing relating to CryptoZoo. Instead, he has laid the blame on other members of the team whom he also says failed to deliver the promised features.
Earlier this year, Paul announced a partial compensation scheme for disappointed investors. He promised to refund people who had bought the NFT eggs, but only if they agreed not sue him for anything relating to CryptoZoo.
Paul is also bringing a libel claim against one of his online detractors in the USA, for claims made about his motives.
Logan Paul’s immense popularity depends on his fans, and shows little sign of declining.
ReutersIn recent years, Paul has turned his hand to boxing and wrestling, as well as launching the drinks company Prime, with British influencer KSI.
The product became notorious for its viral launch – with only a limited stocks made available, Prime spawned a re-sale market with bottles being advertised for hundreds of pounds. It was a testament to both Logan Paul and KSI’s influence over their primarily young audience.
However, for at least one fan, his image has been tarnished for good.
“Once you listen to someone and trust what they’re saying and they betray that trust,” says Rueben Tauk, “their words don’t mean anything to you any more.”
Additional reporting by Ben Milne and Daisy Bata
Zombie knife surrender policy had ‘huge flaws’
Ben Schofield/BBCThe Home Office underestimated how many zombie knives and machetes would be surrendered ahead of a recent ban, documents show.
Research by the BBC also suggests some owners may have been offered more in compensation than their knives cost.
An MP said there were “huge flaws” in the government’s original impact assessment for the scheme, while another queried why compensation was not capped.
The Home Office said the scheme had taken dangerous weapons “off our streets” and that compensation claims had “undergone stringent review”.
Steve Hubbard/BBCThe ban was introduced by the previous Conservative government to cut serious violence and crime.
It widened the definition of zombie knives, which were already banned, to include knives that were 8in (20cm) long, if they had other specific features.
The Home Office opened a month-long surrender and compensation scheme before it became law on 24 September.
It offered to pay a minimum of £10 per knife to retailers and individuals handing in three or more.
But BBC research suggests knives of the type banned could be bought far more cheaply than this.
It comes after an investigation found illegal blades were still available to buy online, a month after they were outlawed.
An impact assessment shows the Home Office thought owners would hand in 472 blades, resulting in compensation of about £14,000.
Officials would not reveal the actual total but said the results of the scheme would be published “shortly”.
However, partial data from several police forces in England and Wales shows at least 39,000 knives were surrendered.
One retailer in the West Midlands handed in more than 100 blades.
Nottinghamshire Police said it saw 455 knives surrendered, while Avon and Somerset had more than 1,000.
On 9 September, Luton-based Sporting Wholesale delivered 35,871 blades to Bedfordshire Police and made a claim for compensation.
There is no suggestion the firm did anything illegal or intended to profit from the scheme.
Among the knives it surrendered were hundreds of a blade known as k-mach-165.
Sporting Wholesale, which owns the Anglo Arms knife brand, is thought to have sourced its knives and machetes from China.
One Guangdong-based supplier, which the BBC is not naming, sells similar knives, including one advertised online alongside a sheath marked “Anglo Arms”.
Posing as a business wanting to import knives into Western Europe, the BBC asked the supplier for its latest product list, costs and a shipping estimate for 30,000 knives.
A knife very similar to k-mach-165 was offered to us for $5.58 if we ordered 1,000 of them.
Using an exchange rate from 25 January, and adding shipping costs, import duty of 8% and VAT at 20%, the knife would land in the UK for about £6.15.
Sporting Wholesale would not say if it used the same supplier or if it anticipated it would profit from the compensation scheme.
The company would also have faced other costs, such as storage and staffing, above the price of the blades.
K-mach-165 has been advertised for sale in the UK for about £15.
Another blade handed in by Sporting Wholesale was the k-mach-572.
It surrendered at least 12 boxes of this model, each containing 12 blades.
The Chinese supplier offered to sell our reporter 1,000 similar blades for $5.58 each, which would land in the UK for about £6.15.
It also offered to sell another knife model, which had also been surrendered, similar to one used to murder a man in Luton in 2023.
The supplier said the knife would cost about £10.85 each, when buying 1,000.
Sporting Wholesale is based in a warehouse on the outskirts of Luton.
Ben Schofield/BBCSarah Owen, Labour MP for the area, said: “Thirty-five thousand knives off the street is better than 35,000 knives on the streets.”
But she said the Home Office’s impact assessment “clearly had flaws – huge flaws”.
Ms Owen added: “I think former ministers who set up this scheme really have questions to answer on how they decided that compensation was going to be allocated and to who.
“But I think we need to look at why it was that it was designed this way, because clearly it wasn’t designed for the quantity of knives that were actually handed in.”
Ben Schofield/BBCThe Home Office said its estimates were based on a previous surrender and compensation scheme in 2019.
In a consultation in spring 2023, it added, zombie knife retailers did not provide data on sales or stock.
Richard Fuller, Conservative MP for North Bedfordshire, said the government should have considered capping compensation payments to avoid an “open-ended cost to the taxpayer”.
He said: “Whether or not this particular store should get its full compensation – I don’t think it’s clear yet that that should be paid and my advice to the government would be to go back and check its homework and see what its rights are under legislation it’s passed.”
He also supported the aim of getting more knives off the streets.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “All claims for compensation submitted under the ‘zombie-style’ knives and machetes surrender scheme have undergone stringent review.
“Dangerous weapons with no other purpose but to harm have been taken off our streets, supporting our mission of halving knife crime and serious violence within a decade.”
Sporting Wholesale declined to comment.
The Chinese supplier was contacted but did not respond.
Henry Patten: ‘We’re on rivals’ radar now’, says Wimbledon doubles champion
“Our [recent] results have been mixed so we haven’t had a crazy good end to the year.
“In one sense it’s been great in that it [winning Wimbledon] has given us confidence that we can compete with everyone and win any tournament we play but at the same time maybe there’s more pressure there.
“Maybe guys are a little more prepared to play us, they’re scouting us because we’ve been around a little bit more. It’s mixed but I’m not complaining.”
After Wimbledon, Patten and Heliovaara lost in the third round at the US Open but reached the final of the ATP 500 event in Beijing and added their most recent success in Stockholm last month.
“It’s nice to reflect on what a journey this year has been,” Patten added.
“I always had belief in myself, but at the same time tennis is a difficult sport and you have to respect the game that way.
“Some matches you win, some you lose and sometimes it’s not necessarily in your control no matter how hard you’re working or how much potential you have.”
Patten, from Manningtree in Essex, is now planning a two-week break to visit his girlfriend in the USA before flying Down Under to begin preparations for the 2025 season.
“The tour starts in Australia – it’s really early this year just with how the dates fall, so I’m going to fly out on 22 December, have Christmas there, which will be a first and an interesting experience, I’m quite looking forward to it,” he added.
H&R Block and Intuit drop on a report that Elon Musk’s DOGE may develop a new tax-filing app
H&R Block and Intuit shares dropped on Tuesday after the Washington Post reported that President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, which is run by billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, is looking at developing a free app for people to file their taxes.
The publication cited two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, in reporting that the leaders of the incoming administration’s DOGE discussed the idea of crafting a mobile app to file income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service.
H&R Block shares tumbled 8.2%, while Intuit shed 5.1% on Tuesday. As the dominant players in tax preparation, H&R Block and Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, generate billions in revenue annually by offering online and in-person services.
The Biden Administration in March rolled out a pilot Direct File program through the IRS in 12 states. It allows qualified taxpayers file directly through a federal portal. Additionally, the IRS provides services through its Free File program for those who made an adjusted gross income of $79,000 or less.
More than 100,000 taxpayers used the new Direct File program to file their taxes this year, which marked the first time the system was in operation, according to the Treasury Department.
The DOGE, which has been directed by Trump to slash government spending and cut federal regulations, criticized the complexity of the U.S tax code in a Nov. 16 post on X, the social media service owned by Musk.
“In 1955, there were less than 1.5 million words in the U.S. Tax Code. Today, there are more than 16 million words,” its X account wrote. “Because of this complexity, Americans collectively spend 6.5 billion hours preparing and filing their taxes each year.”
Intuit and H&R Block also have free filing options.
That said, the Federal Trade Commission earlier in the year barred Intuit from advertising its popular TurboTax product as free when most people have to pay to use it. The FTC in February filed an administrative complaint against H&R Block, alleging it marketed its tax-prep products as free yet deleted the data as a way to pressure them to pay for pricier services. Both companies said they’d appeal.
MSF charity halts work in Port-au-Prince over attacks
The humanitarian medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has suspended its operations in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, following a violent attack on its staff and the alleged killing of two patients they were treating by Haitian police officers.
The incident took place last week as violence continued to worsen in the country.
An estimated 25 people were killed in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday alone in what police say was a foiled attempt at a gang invasion of a wealthy neighbourhood.
Politically, the situation also remains critical with interim Prime Minister Garry Conille fired this month by the country’s ruling council – less than six months after he took office.
MSF says that on 11 November one of its ambulances carrying three young men with gunshot wounds was stopped by Haitian law enforcement officers.
Apparently supported by a paramilitary self-defence group, the men attacked the vehicle, removed two of the patients, took them outside hospital grounds and executed them.
The humanitarian group denounced the violence in a strongly worded statement last week, saying their personnel had been tear-gassed and held against their will for several hours.
While that incident appears to have been the final straw for MSF in Port-au-Prince, at least for the time being, it was not the only recent example of extreme aggression against their staff.
The announcement comes amid a worsening climate of violence in Haiti with some 25 suspected gang members killed in the capital on Tuesday.
The police say that residents helped officers to fight off an attempted attack on the upscale suburb of Pétion-Ville.
The neighbourhood was cordoned off after residents barricaded streets, some armed with machetes and makeshift weapons, in an apparent effort to prevent a gang invasion.
