Why Jake Paul’s Home Was Raided By The FBI
This article is more than 2 years old
YouTube mega celebrity Jake Paul may be in more trouble and this time it’s trouble he does not want to have. The FBI recently executed a federal search warrant on Paul’s Calabasas, California mansion. FBI Public Affairs Specialist Laura Eimiller told news agency CNN that the search is in connection with an ongoing investigation but that the affidavit that supports the warrant has been sealed by a judge, which means they are prohibited from commenting on the nature of the investigation.
While the FBI can’t comment on the search warrant, the Daily Mail claims they know what they were looking for. They want evidence of from an incident in June. It was then that Jake Paul was charged with criminal trespass and unlawful assembly when video came to light of Paul, along with his friends Arman Izadi and Andrew Leon as they were in a Scottsdale, Arizona mall where there was rioting and looting. Here is Paul’s lengthy denial tweet.
The Scottsdale Police Department has decided to drop the charges against Jake Paul, Izadi, and Leon. But here is a specific reason for this. Enter the FBI. According to a Scottsdale Police Department statement, “The Scottsdale Police Department and Scottsdale City Attorney’s Office are coordinating with the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona and the FBI to ensure that justice is served regarding criminal acts at Scottsdale Fashion Square on May 30, 2020.”
The statement also added, “It is in the best interest of the community to dismiss misdemeanor charges without prejudice so that a federal criminal investigation can be completed. Scottsdale retains the option to refile charges depending on the outcome of the federal investigation.”
The FBI brought SWAT with them on the raid of Jake Paul’s $6.9 million home. Their goal: to find video evidence of Paul and friends at the Scottsdale Mall. Not only did they execute the search warrant on Paul, they also raided the Las Vegas home of Izadi, reportedly taking computers and hard drives, searching for unreleased video footage of the riot and looting. It has also been reported that the FBI searched other properties in what was a coordinated raid.
Jake Paul, Izadi and Leon filmed themselves at the Scottsdale Mall as the looting commenced and were eventually arrested and charged with trespassing and unlawful assembly. As the raid on the homes took place, a source came forward, speaking to DailyMail.com. “It seems they wanted to get their hands on technology to review any footage that may not have been released. That is what seems to be out of control. Why is it so aggressive for just that?”
The source also added, “They asked [Izadi] a lot of questions,” the source added. “They were asking him things pertaining to why they were in Arizona.” Other friends of the YouTube stars weighed in too, “This is definitely being trumped up,” a friend of the YouTube stars told the DailyMail. “It was never anyone’s intention to go down there and loot. I know that Mr. Izadi and Jake didn’t loot anything. It’s hard to say what was going on with all of the people around them. There’s plenty of footage out there showing there were ignorant people around them that were encouraging bad behavior. There were people who they knew and didn’t know who were doing things that weren’t intelligent.” The friend continued, “But of course the only names getting dragged into the media are Jake’s and Izadi’s. That’s always the position. Jake’s insanely famous and Mr. Izadi’s a good friend.”
This investigation is on-going, so it’ll be interesting to see what the FBI finds, if anything, based on Jake Paul’s explicit denial of wrongdoing. As information comes forward, we’ll do out best to get it to you.
Jake Paul’s History With The Law
For those of you unfamiliar Jake Paul, he first came to recognition as a social media influencer on the video app Vine and then turned that into a role on Disney Channel’s Bizaardvark. His role as Dirk Mann, lasted a couple seasons and came to a crashing end as he was fired for an incident with a Los Angeles news crew.
The crew was dispatched to Jake Paul’s rented home in Beverly Grove, which he shared with his YouTube friends, because they were reportedly lighting fires in a drained swimming pool and having dirt-bike drag races outside the home. When the news crew arrived, Paul and friends ambushed the reporter and crew with a T-shirt cannon, then climbed on the news van while mocking the reporter’s shoes.
Jake Paul’s comment to The Hollywood Reporter on the incident: “But we’re not even that loud. Like, yes, we had a furniture fire get out of control in our backyard one time. But that didn’t harm a single person.” Then he reflected a bit more, “Looking back, I see why everyone was like, ‘Yo, this kid sucks,’ ” said Paul. ” ‘Cause I look super immature.”
