Atozy
‘Atozy you’ve won’ — Bitboy drops lawsuit after $200K defense raised
“So we are gonna drop the lawsuit, 100% and I'm sorry this became public,” said Ben Armstrong.
Ben Armstrong, the man behind Bitboy Crypto said that he is dropping the defamation suit against fellow Youtube content creator Erling Mengshoel Jr., who goes by the name Atozy.
Armstrong officially filed the suit against Mengshoel Jr. on Aug. 12 in response to a Nov 2021 video titled “This YouTuber scams his fans… Bitboy Crypto” which alleged that Armstrong was dishonestly promoting dubious assets to his audience such as PAMP for his own gain. He was seeking $75,000 in damages over the ordeal.
However, Armstrong suggested in a Aug. 24 live stream that he is now walking back the complaint after Mengshoel Jr. managed to raise more than $200,000 for his defence.
The crypto YouTuber outlined that he initially filed the complaint with the aim to get Mengshoel Jr. to take the video down, and suggested that he didn’t want to actually go through with the court proceedings.
However, Armstrong explained that as Atozy now has enough to cover legal costs, and with prominent crypto trader/podcasters such as Cobie (Jordan Fish) donating $100,000 to the cause, the dispute has gone further than he initially intended.
“So we are gonna drop the lawsuit, 100% and I'm sorry this became public, I'm sorry that this has been misconstrued, but I just want you guys to understand why I was doing this. This was not about a slapstick lawsuit.”
“When someone implies that you could be in trouble from the SEC, that is not frivolous guys, that's a very serious matter. And so from my perspective, trying to defend my reputation, trying to get him to remove the video that literally has wrong information in it, that was all I wanted,” he added.
At the time of writing, Atozy’s video is still up and has nearly 190,000 views. In the Bitboy livestream, Armstrong pleaded with Mengshoel Jr. to at least edit parts of the video which he has taken umbrage over. Ultimately however, Armstrong noted that Atozy has “won.”
From what I’ve heard Bitboy will be pulling the lawsuit.
— atozy (@atozy) August 24, 2022
I’m blown away from the support.
In less than 24 hours we raised roughly $200,000 USD
Once I have the confirmation it’s officially pulled. I will be refunding everyone who donated.
Thank you guys for saving me.
Commenting on the matter, Atozy states that all is yet to be resolved, as he is still waiting for the official confirmation from his lawyer that the complaint has been dismissed with “prejudice.”
“I'm told by my lawyer that if it is not with prejudice he can refile at any time,” he wrote, adding that once the official confirmation has come through, he will refund all the money to everyone that donated to the cause.
Crypto Whale Donates $100,000 to YouTuber Fighting a BitBoy Lawsuit
BitBoy Crypto sues fellow YouTuber Atozy for defamation over shilling claims
Cryptocurrency YouTuber Bitboy Crypto has filed a defamation lawsuit against another prominent content creator on the platform.
Two prominent YouTube content creators are set to lock horns in a legal battle over a cryptocurrency video allegedly promoting a project that ended up being a scam.
Bitboy Crypto, a YouTube channel founded by Ben Armstrong, produces a variety of content focused on cryptocurrency news, projects and tokens and trading advice. The channel has been active since February 2018 and has over 1.4 million subscribers.
The channel is known for its news pieces and trading-focused videos with headlines like ‘Top 3 Coins To Outperform Ethereum! (Strong Short Term Play)’ typifying the type of content disseminated to viewers.
While these videos purport to offer trading advice, the channel has a disclaimer clearly stating that Armstrong is not ‘a professional advisor in business areas involving finance, cryptocurrency, taxation, securities and commodities trading, or the practice of law.’ The channel’s content states that it is meant for general information purposes only.
Bitboy Crypto has copped criticism from the wider cryptocurrency community in the past for allegedly misleading viewers about various tokens and projects. Armstrong has attempted to rebut these claims, with a prime example being a fiery podcast conversation hosted by cryptocurrency investor Anthony Pompliano in November 2021.
Related: BitBoy founder threatens class action lawsuit against Celsius
An incident involving comments posted by another YouTuber on a BitBoy video from 2020 has led Armstrong to seek legal recourse. Erling Mengshoel Jr, better known by his YouTube channel name Atozy, came across a now-deleted video on the Bitboy channel promoting a project called Pamp network token in 2020.
The project ended on a sour note as investors were left empty-handed after a reported 'rug-pull' from the founders. As per data from Coingecko, PAMP tokens are worth fractions of a dollar, down from all-time highs of $2.73 in July 2020.
In the wake of the PAMP failure, Atozy revisited the Bitboy video to post comments labeling Armstrong as ‘shady’ for misleading viewers. Atozy went on to create a full video on his channel in November 2021 titled ‘This YouTuber scams his fans… Bitboy Crypto’, alleging that Armstrong had been dishonest as a self-proclaimed expert on cryptocurrencies to promote a project that ended up crashing.
Armstrong officially filed a federal complaint against Mengshoel on Aug. 12 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta, with a raft of claims, including defamation, infliction of emotional distress and tortious interference with business relations or potential business relations.
Mengshoel was eventually served at his home a few days later and has called for the assistance of viewers and the cryptocurrency community to tackle what he described as a 'frivolous' lawsuit from Armstrong.
Mengshoel has since launched a GoFundMe account to meet the lawsuit head-on, with Armstrong claiming damages and legal fees worth $75,000. GoFundMe has received over $20,000 in the 24 hours since its launch, with over 450 contributors to date.
Cointelegraph has reached out to both parties for comment on proceedings and will update this article accordingly.