Crypto Sleuth ZachXBT Sued, Doxxed By Former Target

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Pseudonymous blockchain sleuth ZachXBT, who for years ran pro bono on-chain investigations into allegations of financial misconduct in the cryptocurrency industry, has been sued for defamation by an entrepreneur he previously vetted .

In June 2022, ZachXBT accused Taiwanese-American musician and tech executive Jeffrey Huang, also known by his online username Machi Big Brother, of embezzling 22,000 ETH worth approximately 37.8 million dollars when writing a former crypto cash management platform that Huang had co-founded. The detective backed up the claim with on-chain data.

On Thursday, Huang filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, alleging the charges were false and that ZachXBT is now liable for damages to Huang’s reputation.

I have always maintained that the allegations in his article are false, Huang wrote on Twitter on Friday. I look forward to proving through trial that [he] unlawfully defamed me.

Above all, to file a lawsuit, Huang and his lawyers managed to determine the legal name and place of residence of ZachXBT. As ZachXBT has, for years now, publicly surveyed many powerful players in the crypto space, his ability to remain anonymous has been key to his continued presence as a prominent voice in the Crypto Twitter community, and more broadly. in the crypto industry. The investigators’ legal name is now visible in copies of Thursday’s trial uploaded to several public databases.

On Friday, ZachXBT took to Twitter to update his 403,000 followers on the development.

The lawsuit is baseless and an attempt to chill free speech, he wrote. It’s sickening to see it come to this, but I knew one day it would happen because the price of telling the truth is that sometimes people don’t like what you say.

ZachXBT has also called on his supporters to donate funds to support his legal defense as the analyst intends to fight the lawsuit in a decision he says will likely result in costs that could easily exceed US$1 million. .

Within hours of the call, a dedicated wallet address for ZachXBT’s legal defense fund has already received approximately $320,000 worth of cryptocurrency from over 500 donors. While the majority of these donations were made to Ethereum or USDC, a number of meme tokens including Jesus Coin, Pepe Coin, and Good Gensler Coin were also sent to the wallet.

It appears that ZachXBT has already found legal representation for the lawsuit: Brown Rudnick, a Boston-based law firm that was hired in December by the Bahamian government to advise on matters relating to the collapse of FTX, and previously successfully portrayed actor Johnny Depp. in his defamation lawsuit against actress Amber Heard.

Along with Jess Meyers and the Brown Rudnick team, I am honored to represent ZachXBT in their continued mission to speak truth to power, Brown Rudnick partner Stephen Palley wrote on Twitter this afternoon. Meyers was a member of Depps’ litigation team.

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