Photo: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock
What did he do this time?
By Olivia Jakiel — Written on Aug 05, 2020
YouTube star Jake Paul may be in some hot water (again). According to TMZ, the FBI raided the 23-year-old former Disney star’s house during the early morning hours on August 5, 2020.
ABC News correspondent Alex Stone also reported that Jake Paul’s house is currently being searched under a sealed federal warrant and is part of an ongoing investigation.
What is a sealed federal warrant?
A sealed federal warrant is basically a search warrant whose contents are not released to the public. This includes the subject of the warrant. Requests for sealed warrants and/or records are usually made to protect the private identities of those involved in an ongoing investigation, or those who may be assisting the police or FBI in the investigation.
Sealed search warrants also usually involve one or more people and their phones or other electronic devices and their means of communication. Investigators may request sealed search warrants to gather information from Facebook, Google, text messages, apps, etc.
In regards to sealed search warrants, Chief Deputy County Attorney Bruce Prenda told The Lincoln Journal Star in 2019, “It's an intense amount of work that investigators do when they're starting an investigation and they know phones are involved, video cameras.”
Reasons why the FBI may raiding Jake Paul’s house.
Per TMZ’s sources, the FBI is currently searching Jake Paul’s Calabasas, California home. While the exact reason for the raid is currently unclear, TMZ reports that this isn’t a stunt or a swatting-type prank.
While TMZ reported they were unsure of whether Jake Paul was home during the raid, many fans pointed out that Jake is currently in Las Vegas, Nevada, so the feds are most likely not looking for him, per se. So, what exactly are they looking for?
Some Twitter users are alleging that the feds are searching for drugs; others are alleging the FBI may be searching for child pornography.
It is important to note that neither of these allegations have been confirmed by the FBI; it’s just speculation from social media users.
What other controversies has Jake Paul been involved in?
How long do you have? This obviously isn’t the first time Jake Paul has been involved in some major controversies. In 2017, he parted ways with Disney and left the role of Dirk on the show Bizaardvark after public reports of his pranks and antics from his neighbors landed him in hot water.
More recently, in 2020, the aspiring boxer was recorded by multiple people outside an Arizona mall that was being looted during the George Floyd protests. He denied participating in the looting, despite the video evidence against him, and was later charged with criminal trespassing over the incident.
In July of 2020, Jake Paul came under fire for throwing a massive party at his Calabasas house during the Coronavirus pandemic. “No one has answers, our leadership is failing us, and everyone kind of just doesn’t know what to do,” he said of the rising numbers of COVID cases. “But I personally am not the type of person who’s gonna sit around and not live my life.”
Olivia Jakiel is an editor and writer who covers celebrity and entertainment news. Follow her on Instagram and keep up with her zingers on Twitter.