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- 1 ZachXBT, a prominent voice in the Crypto Twitter community, was probed by a legal investigator who has now been made public.
- 2 ZachXBT updated his 403,000 Twitter followers on the situation on Friday, saying the action was groundless and an attempt to stifle free expression.
- 3 ZachXBT requested financial support from his supporters for his legal defense and has already received over 500 donations
ZachXBT has been conducting volunteer on-chain investigations into alleged financial malfeasance in the cryptocurrency business for years.
ZachXBT Accused, Supporters Donated $320,000 in Cryptocurrency
Jeffrey Huang, a Taiwanese-American musician and tech executive also known online by the handle Machi Big Brother, was accused by ZachXBT of stealing 22,000 ETH which at the time of writing was equivalent to $37.8 Million, from a failed cryptocurrency treasury management platform he co-founded in June 2022. The detective provided on-chain data to support the claim.
Huang filed a federal complaint against ZachXBT on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, claiming that the allegations were untrue and that ZachXBT is now responsible for Huang’s damaged reputation.
Huang posted on Twitter on Friday, saying, “I have consistently maintained that the charges in his piece are incorrect. I’m looking forward to showing in court that he wrongfully slandered me,” the plaintiff said.
Importantly, Huang and his attorneys were able to determine ZachXBT’s legal name and address in order to launch the lawsuit. ZachXBT has been a prominent voice in the Crypto Twitter community and the wider crypto sector for years. He publicly probed many influential figures in the space. His ability to stay anonymous has been crucial to this success. The legal name of the investigator can now be seen in copies of the complaint that were made public on Thursday.
ZachXBT updated his 403,000 Twitter followers on the situation on Friday.
He wrote, “The action is groundless and an attempt to stifle free expression. It is sickening to see it get to this, but I knew it would happen one day as the cost of telling the truth is that people don’t always like what you say.”
Additionally, ZachXBT requested financial support from his supporters for his legal defense because he plans to contest the lawsuit in court, which he believes would cost “could easily exceed $1 Million USD” in expenses.
A wallet address designated to ZachXBT’s legal defense fund has already received over 500 donations totalling over $320,000 in cryptocurrency in the hours following the appeal. The majority of the contributions were made in Ethereum or USDC, however, there were also some meme tokens transferred to the wallet, such as Jesus Coin, Pepe Coin, and Good Gensler Coin.
Brown Rudnick, a Boston-based law firm was hired by the Bahamas government in December to advise on matters pertaining to the collapse of FTX. It previously successfully represented the actor Johnny Depp in his defamation suit against the actress Amber Heard.
This afternoon, Stephen Palley, a partner at Brown Rudnick, posted on Twitter, “I’m honored to represent ZachXBT in his ongoing mission to speak truth to power along with Jess Meyers and the team at Brown Rudnick.” Meyers worked with Depp’s legal team.
With a background in journalism, Ritika Sharma has worked with many reputed media firms focusing on general news such as politics and crime. She joined The Coin Republic as a reporter for crypto, and found a great passion for cryptocurrency, Web3, NFTs and other digital assets. She spends a lot of time researching and delving deeper into these concepts around the clock, and is a strong advocate for women in STEM.
