FaZe Clan co-owner Ricky ‘Banks’ Bengston has responded to accusations regarding offshore gambling being levied against him.
Throughout 2021, there have been various allegations against YouTube personalities, accused of being involved in cryptocurrency schemes and other gambling activities.
Earlier in October 2021, NELK Boys’ SteveWillDoIt completely wiped his gambling channel after a video from notorious YouTube sleuth Coffeezilla suggested something shady was occurring.
FaZe Clan have been embroiled in their own issues too, with members Kay, Jarvis, Nikan, and Teeqo all removed or suspended from the org for allegedly pumping and dumping a cryptocoin called Save the Kids.
It’s more recently been alleged by fans and critics online that Banks himself could be involved with Roobet and its owners, thanks mostly to his huge deal with the company that saw them fly Banks, Adin Ross and more out to Mexico and give them around $2m to promote the platform.
The main issue is that Roobet is not available in the U.S. — hence why questions have been asked over their activity.
Banks appeared on the BFFs podcast with Josh Richards and Barstool’s Dave Portnoy to discuss the allegations. He said: “We did a 1-month stint campaign with them [Roobet], we were getting jets to Mexico, we did it completely 100% legit. I’m as legit as it gets.”
Topic starts at 25:02
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
While Richards said that he had heard influencers were telling viewers to download a VPN so that they can access the site, Banks denied that any of that had happened. “That never happened, at least not from us,” he said.
He went on to say that “we got paid fat for it,” but expressed some confusion over what exactly it was he and others were being accused of. “There were transactions with a [Ethereum] wallet super connected to Roobet, and it was like, ‘Why’s all this money coming in from this wallet to Banks, and then two seconds later he’s buying CryptoPunks’?”
He then explained exactly what happened between his ETH wallet and the other. “We all know how Coinbase works. It’s annoying, it takes a while. I start sending messages out saying ‘Yo, do you have X dollars in Ethereum that I could buy off you?’ So one of these guys came back, he sends me the Ethereum, I did it all through my finance people. And I wired this guy out like $200,000.”
While Banks doesn’t often speak out on his personal life and things that are going on behind the scenes, he’s very confident that he’s done nothing wrong in this situation and doesn’t want to be tarnished with that brush.
