Social media influencer Logan Paul has initiated a defamation lawsuit against YouTuber and crypto journalist Stephen Findeisen, known as "Coffeezilla," in response to videos criticizing Paul's CryptoZoo non-fungible token (NFT) project.
The lawsuit, filed on June 27 in San Antonio, Texas, accuses Findeisen of spreading false statements that allegedly harmed Paul's reputation.
The court documents claim that Findeisen's videos wrongly portrayed Paul as operating a scam related to CryptoZoo. These videos, released in late 2022, described CryptoZoo as "Logan Paul's biggest scam," alleging that Paul misled his supporters by keeping their money while not fulfilling the project's promises.
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The lawsuit contends that Coffeezilla intentionally excluded vital information in his videos. Paul maintains that he was committed to the success of CryptoZoo and was instead misled by advisors who turned out to be untrustworthy. The filing states:
Findeisen knew full well that Paul had never set out to scam anybody, but to the contrary had always intended to build a legitimate blockchain-based game for participants to enjoy with a like-minded community.
Paul specifically points to Eduardo "Eddie" Ibanez and Jake Greenbaum as the main culprits in the project's failure. He describes Ibanez as a "charlatan" who lied about his credentials and Greenbaum as an adviser more interested in personal profit than the project's success.
Paul seeks damages exceeding $75,000, along with interest, legal fees, and other relief as determined by the court.
Initially, Paul had considered legal action against Coffeezilla in January 2023 but decided to focus on rectifying the situation by announcing a $1.5 million recovery plan for CryptoZoo. Despite these efforts, the recovery plan failed to materialize. In January 2024, he announced a "buy back" program, which he personally planned to fund with $2.3 million.
The CryptoZoo initiative, launched in 2021, was envisioned as a game where players could purchase NFT "eggs" using the game's token, ZOO. These eggs would hatch into animals that players could breed to create hybrids, which could be traded for more ZOO tokens.
Overall, the lawsuit underscores the potential troubles of public figures getting involved in crypto.
