YouTuber BitBoy has been ordered by a Florida Judge to face allegations he threatened and harassed the plaintiff’s lawyers behind a class-action lawsuit against him and other FTX influencers.
In an April 12 filing with the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Judge Melissa Damian ordered influencer Ben Armstrong, known online as BitBoy, to appear in court to address allegations he threatened the attorney representing a proposed class of FTX investors.
Armstrong, along with several other “influencers,” including money, business and finance YouTuber Graham Stephen, were named in a $1 billion lawsuit filed on March 15, for allegedly promoting, assisting and/or actively participating in FTX’s offer and sale of unregistered securities.
Armstrong rose to fame as a YouTuber, describing himself as a “cryptocurrency enthusiast and content creator. Doing his part to spread adoption and move Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies into the mainstream.”
The plaintiffs’ attorney in the class action, Adam Moskowitz, made a filing with the court on March 20 drawing its attention to continued harassment by Armstrong after the class action lawsuit was first filed and requesting a status conference on the subject. This included emails sent by Armstrong in which he called Moskowitz “an unbelievably dumb mother fucker” and told him to “expect a counter suit bitch.”
In response to Moskowitz’s filing, the court requested that he provide the court with proof that Armstrong has been served with the lawsuit, which Moskowitz provided on April 5—this 32-page filing, amongst other things, provided further evidence that Armstrong was “continuing to make daily violent threats” against plaintiff’s attorneys both via email and social media
Now, the court has ordered Armstrong to appear in court on April 20 to address the allegations.
For his part Armstrong remained unrepentant after being served, even requesting the official who delivered him the court papers to record a message to Moskowitz, in which he stated, “I received this paperwork, I love it. I’m going to bury you.” He signed off the video by saying, “You’re going to pay, buddy.”
After Judge Damian’s court order was made this week, Armstrong immediately took to Twitter to double down, stating: “I will continue to relentlessly bully people that prey on the innocent and the weak. Adam Moskowitz does not get to inconvenience me. So no Adam, I will not be showing up to court Thursday.”
Which means the April 20 conference, if it even goes ahead, is unlikely to be the end of the story.
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