decrypt.co
Logan Paul will not see YouTuber Coffeezilla in court.
After becoming embroiled in an online feud with self-described “internet detective” Coffeezilla—also known as Stephen Findeisen—Paul has dropped the legal threats made last week via a controversial, now-deleted response video.
“Logan called me,” Findeisen wrote on Twitter Saturday. “He said he’s deleting the two responses, and is dropping the lawsuit threats.”
Logan called me. He said he’s deleting the two responses, and is dropping the lawsuit threats.
I believe he’s making a 3rd response, which I’ll be delaying my video to include. Hopefully this time he takes accountability and refunds the victims of CryptoZoo. That’s what matters. https://t.co/ElKX2d9mY0
— Coffeezilla (@coffeebreak_YT) January 7, 2023
“I’m glad he dropped the frivolous lawsuit, but next steps are much more important,” Findeisen told Decrypt in a direct message. “The right thing to do here is REFUNDS for the affected victims. That’s what this has always been about.”
Last week, Paul railed against Findeisen’s three-part video series calling Paul’s seemingly abandoned crypto game CryptoZoo a “scam.”
Now, the controversial YouTuber and WWE fighter is singing a different tune. In a Discord message, Paul said his now-deleted response video—in which he accused Findeisen of creating “a defamatory hit piece” and threatened legal action—was, in fact, “rash and misaligned with the true issue at hand.”
“The war is not with Coffee,” Paul said of Findeisen. “I will be taking accountability, apologizing, and coming forward with a plan in the near future.”
Paul had said in the video that “CryptoZoo is coming,” although it is unclear when, how, or even whether that dream will be realized.
While it is possible that Paul may have simply had an epiphany of accountability, he or his legal team may have also come to terms with the additional challenges public figures such as Paul face when trying to win defamation lawsuits.
As attorney Andrew Rossow previously told Decrypt, the public figure plaintiff must prove that the defendant acted in “actual malice” and “in reckless disregard for the truth” in order to make a defamation case in court.
Paul may be walking back his legal threats, but another CryptoZoo legal battle could be on the horizon. In Findeisen’s trilogy, Coffee spoke with former CryptoZoo developer Zach Kelling, who Findeisen kept anonymous but Paul then doxxed in his response video.
In a Linkedin post, Kelling called Paul’s response video “defamatory” and said the video was a personal attack.
Kelling previously confirmed to Decrypt that he and his team are still owed payment for their work on CryptoZoo.
“Logan can pay me and I will release [the] game,” Kelling said. “Up to him, so far we have all been scammed.”
While Kelling said he is pleased that Paul deleted the response video, the issue is far from resolved.
“I am an investor in and [the] original CTO of CryptoZoo. The devs are still owed over $1 million USD by CryptoZoo and 5 percent [of the] tokens. I am happy to share the GitHub which shows it was indeed a heroic effort by over 30 folks,” Kelling said in his post, refuting Paul’s initial claim that Kelling only hired three engineers.
“My legal counsel will be following-up with Logan and the CryptoZoo team to address their claims directly,” he concluded.
Kelling told Decrypt that Paul’s video that doxxed him and revealed his expunged criminal record negatively impacts his professional future.
“Even after expunging my record and all my success over the years, all it takes is an asshole like Logan to set me back years,” the developer said.
But right now, Kelling’s main concern is that of the safety of himself and his family, sharing with Decrypt screenshots of anonymous individuals’ threatening messages including his address and photos of his home.
“He publicly doxxed me and photoshops me in a jumpsuit and now his fans are stalking and threatening me,” Kelling told Decrypt. “His public attacks are leading to life and death risks for my family.”
Paul has not yet responded to Decrypt’s requests for comment.