An alleged FTX crypto YouTuber has been served legal papers through Twitter after a Florida court gave lawyers permission.
The Moskowitz Law Firm was given the green light by a Southern District of Florida court judge to serve legal notice to YouTuber Tom Nash, a Georgia resident, via Twitter, after they successfully claimed he couldn’t be reached any other way.
Tom Nash is one of 10 defendants profiled in a class-action lawsuit against social media influencers who were alleged to have promoted FTX crypto without revealing what they got paid for it.
The other names are Kevin Paffrath, Graham Stephan, Andrei Jikh, Jaspreet Singh, Brian Jung, Jeremy Lefebvre, the Creators Agency talent management company and its founder Erika Kullberg, and Ben Armstrong, also known as ‘BitBoy Crypto’.
Armstrong had missed a 20 April court date to face the allegations.
Instead, Armstrong tweeted from the Bahamas: “”I am supposed to be in court today. I’m not. Why? Because I don’t give AF.”
FTX disaster
The lawsuit has sparked a debate in the cryptocurrency community about the role of influencers and their potential impact on the market. Some argue that influencers play an important role in informing investors about the risks and opportunities of investing in cryptocurrencies, while others believe that some influencers may engage in market manipulation for their own gain.
The Moskowitz papers claim: “This action may be one of the only avenues for any of the victims to recover any of their damages. Plaintiffs bring this action against YouTube and social media financial influencers and promoters who shared financial advice and actively promoted FTX and its yield-bearing accounts (‘YBAs’) to their millions of followers.
“Though FTX paid Defendants handsomely to push its brand and encourage their followers to invest, Defendants did not disclose the nature and scope of their sponsorships and/or endorsement deals, payments and compensation, nor conduct adequate (if any) due diligence.
“With the rise to prominence of the internet and social media, a new multi-billion-dollar cottage industry of ‘Influencers’ has been created. Evidence has now been uncovered that reveals Influencers played a major role in the FTX disaster and in fact, FTX could not have arisen to such great heights without the massive impact of these Influencers, who hyped the Deceptive FTX Platform for undisclosed payments ranging from tens of thousands of dollars to multimillion dollar bribes. Indeed, the most searched companies on the internet today are cryptocurrency brands.”
