Who is Coffeezilla, the crypto sleuth who says he exposed Sam Bankman-Fried?

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Stephen Findeisen, better known as Coffeezilla, has made crypto sleuthing a full-time gig. He played a role in bringing down Sam Bankman-Fried and says he got the FTX CEO to admit fraud. Recently, Coffeezilla got into a fight with Logan Paul over a crypto game he called a scam. LoadingSomething is being loaded.

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Stephen Findeisen, better known by his YouTube alias Coffeezilla, found himself in the spotlight when he interviewed Sam Bankman-Fried in late 2022, just weeks before the crypto mogul was arrested and charged with fraud over the collapse of FTX.

Few outside the industry knew who Findeisen was, but he’s been watched for years by Crypto Sleuths, an online community of amateur sleuths who investigate scams and fraud in the scandal-ridden market. and attempt to hold bad actors accountable.

In a video titled “I accidentally interviewed SBF and he hated it,” the self-proclaimed “internet sleuth” posted a series of conversations with Bankman-Fried on Twitter Spaces recordings that apparently accelerated the disappearance of former head of FTX.

In the first interview, Findeisen questioned Bankman-Fried’s claim that he had no idea that FTX client funds were being transferred to Alameda Research, its crypto trading arm.

“I had a lot to do,” Bankman-Fried said, before leaving the space soon after.

In the second interview, Findeisen questioned Bankman-Fried’s image as an incompetent FTX executive.

“Whenever it comes to a tough point, the answer always seems to be, ‘I made an embarrassing mistake,'” Findeisen said. “It’s hard to believe you’ve made so many embarrassing mistakes.”

In a third interview, Findeisen claims he got the “irrefutable gun” when the Bankman-Fried admitted that FTX customer deposits were treated differently than described in the terms of service. It’s an admission of fraud, Findeisen said, and it spread like wildfire online in the days leading up to Bankman-Fried’s arrest.

He used to be a crypto sleuth

Bankman-Fried is now awaiting trial on various charges of fraud, money laundering and misuse of client funds. Findeisen, meanwhile, has been hailed as a citizen journalist in an industry that has been overrun by fraudsters and scammers.

Before being known as Coffeezilla, Findeisen says he’s seen people in his own life fall victim to scammers. That includes his mother, who was sold fraudulent treatment after being diagnosed with cancer, Findeisen said in a 2022 interview with The New Yorker.

Later, while attending college at Texas A&M University, Findeisen was asked by a friend if he wanted to participate in a mysterious business opportunity, which Findeisen later realized was was a multi-level marketing program. Findeisen took time out, but his housemates stepped in and secured a subscription to Success magazine to go with him.

“I clearly remember thinking, we have four copies of Success magazine and no one is succeeding. Something is wrong here,” he said.

After graduating with a degree in chemical engineering, Findeisen worked as a salesman for a local home builder while starting to get into creating YouTube content. He discovered a niche when he started criticizing financial influencers. Today, he makes videos full time, with 2.5 million subscribers as a result of his investigative work.

In an interview with CNN last year, Findeisen said he started investigating dodgy crypto and NFT projects because the industry was crawling with bad actors. Illicit crypto transactions hit an all-time high in 2022, the same year Findeisen gained over a million new YouTube subscribers.

“I’ve always hated when people in my life get ripped off by different get-rich-quick schemes, things like that,” he said. “Finally I found crypto, that is, there are good things going on, but holy mother of scams, there are also a lot of bad things.”

In general, it is also opposed to the cultural zeitgeist at all times.

“I always want to go where people don’t go,” he told The New Yorker. “I think if I only saw negative crypto stuff, I would start a pro-crypto channel. But I see the opposite.”

backlash

Findeisen’s videos have also drawn ire from influencers.

Findeisen was caught up in a controversy with YouTuber Logan Paul after he made a three-part YouTube series exposing Paul’s NFT project, CryptoZoo, which Findeisen described as the “biggest scam”.

The project, which Paul promoted as a “really fun game that makes you money”, allowed players to purchase eggs using an in-game currency called Zoo Coins. Eggs were said to hatch into animal NFTs and, after hatching, would yield daily Zoo Coins that users could exchange for fiat money. But Findeisen said there was no way for users to hatch the eggs or cash out their holdings.

Paul suggested he would take legal action against Findeisen’s claims, warning of “very real repercussions” in a now-deleted YouTube video.

A spokesperson for Paul declined Insider’s request for comment, though the YouTuber has since apologized and backed off on those threats, according to a recent tweet from Findeisen. A screenshot shared with Findeisen from the CryptoZoo Discord shows Paul making amends to the public brawl:

“The war is not with Coffee. In fact, I’m grateful he brought this to light. I will take responsibility,” Paul wrote.

Findeisen declined Insider’s request for more comment on his work, saying he was exhausted speaking with the media.

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