HEAVILY ARMED FBI agents searched the California home of controversial YouTube star Jake Paul yesterday as part of an ongoing investigation, according to his lawyer.
Images aired by US media showed large firearms being retrieved from the social media influencer’s mansion in Calabasas, near Los Angeles, after a search lasting hours and involving a SWAT team.
“We understand that a search warrant was executed at Jake’s Calabasas home this morning while Jake was out-of-state,” said Paul’s lawyer Richard Schonfeld in a statement to AFP.
Paul, who has over 20 million YouTube subscribers and has dabbled in acting, rapping and professional boxing, was recently caught on video at a looted Arizona mall during May anti-racism protests.
He was charged with criminal trespassing and unlawful assembly but denied wrongdoing. The initial charges were dropped to allow a federal criminal investigation.
An FBI spokeswoman told AFP yesterday that federal agents investigating “allegations of criminal acts” at the Arizona mall had “executed federal search warrants in California and Las Vegas, Nevada in connection with this investigation”.
Another FBI spokesman said “no arrests have been made or are planned” over the Calabasas raid, without specifically linking it to the Arizona incident.
Paul’s lawyer said he and his client are “still gathering information and will cooperate with the investigation”.
Paul, 22, has also courted controversy for raucous parties at his mansion, earning a rebuke last month from the mayor of Calabasas – the exclusive community outside Los Angeles home to the Kardashian family.
His YouTube channel promises “making comedy vids, acting, doing action sports, & going on crazy adventures”.
His older brother Logan Paul is also a well-known YouTube star, beating out his younger sibling with some 22 million subscribers.
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