FaZe talent manager took 20% cut for brokering crypto pump and dumps

A senior talent manager at esports brand FaZe was fired over his alleged involvement in a string of pump and dumps in the first half of the year — just as Bitcoin and Ethereum led crypto markets to new record highs.

According to a follow-up report by self-styled internet detective Coffeezilla, FaZe’s Jordan Galen acted as an independent middleman, brokering rogue promo deals between token developers and gaming influencers.

One influencer was FaZe member Frazier Khattari (Kay), who the org fired earlier this month for advertising a token purportedly for charity called Save The Kids (KIDS). Three other FaZe members were also suspended in the fallout.

KIDS was a SafeMoon–esque Ponzi game which said it would send “burned” crypto to charity rather than remaining holders, as is the case with many similar projects that found popularity in recent months.

A previous Coffeezilla investigation linked Khattari and disgraced YouTuber Sam Pepper to a raft of similar tokens with dumb names like MoonPortal, MoonPug, and DogeElon.

The Save The Kids advertisement has been re-uploaded by the public since it was taken down.

Thousands still holding FaZe bags

In the case of KIDS, project insiders paid Khattari other influencers in KIDS to shill the token to FaZe fans. Galen allegedly collected commissions for organizing deals.

“This began with me answering emails that were sent into [Khattari’s] inbox. After a few of the deals, I got in contact with a party who then brought in a bulk of the deals to me and that’s it,” Galen told Coffeezilla.

A spreadsheet shared by Pepper — who worked as Khattari’s assistant — detailed a list of influencers in on the KIDS pre-sale.

After tweeting to encourage FaZe fans to ape in (but not financial advice!), Khattari and other KIDS whales dumped shortly after it was deployed to Binance Smart Chain decentralized exchange PancakeSwap in June.

A senior talent manager at esports crew FaZe brokered rogue promo deals between crypto token developers and gaming influencers. — KIDS dropped 70% almost immediately as insiders sold their stashes.

This rendered KIDS virtually worthless. Swathes of FaZe fans and other contributors are now out of pocket; Khattari and co. likely sold them the bags with which they’re now stuck.

BSCScan records about 8,100 KIDS holders to date. Binance Charity controls just 0.08% of the supply.

Coffeezilla linked Save The Kids’ pre-sale wallet to Khattari via a KIDS transfer worth $20,000 to one of his wallets.

“The name, concept and aspects of Save the Kids coin were Kay’s idea, and he chose and assembled the team members. He controls. That’s what Kay does,” Pepper told Coffeezilla, who lived and worked with Khattari in Los Angeles until recently.

However, evidence suggests it was Pepper who ordered the contracted Save The Kids dev to change the smart contract’s code last minute.

The move removed an “anti-whale” feature that would’ve prevented pre-sale insiders from selling tokens until 24 hours after launch. Instead, whales were allowed to dump after just one minute.

After all, how else would they maximize their shitcoin promotion paycheck?

Khattari appealed to fans to send information on their losses to a Gmail account.

Despite a tearful video denying knowledge of any plot to pump and dump KIDS, blockchain data links Khattari to several token rug pulls.

Khatarri previously sent Coffeezilla a cease and desist notice, ordering the YouTuber to delete his Save The Kids videos and retract statements implicating Khatarri in crypto pump and dumps. Coffeezilla ignored those requests.

Pepper sold his Tesla and appears to have moved to the UK sometime in the past few weeks.

Legit meetings end with Wolf of Wall Street

A section of Coffeezilla’s latest video shows former FaZe members Khattari and Galen on a Zoom call brokering a deal to promote a token on Twitter.

Screenshots show the deal would’ve netted the pair $500,000 (paid in the token itself).
Galen told Coffeezilla his cut was normally 10-20%, with Khattari taking the lion share.
A recording of the meeting ended with chanting and chest-thumping à la The Wolf of Wall Street.

While the deal never came to fruition, the footage lends a gory glimpse of mucky shitcoinery intersecting with social media influence.

You can watch the full third instalment of Coffeezilla’s Save the Kids investigation below, timestamped to that cringey conversation.