FaZe Banks alleged crypto scam controversy explained

A new controversy has erupted in the livestreaming and content creation communities, as Richard Bengston, popularly known as "FaZe Banks," has "stepped away" from FaZe Clan following allegations of his involvement in a cryptocurrency scam.

On July 28, 2025, FaZe Banks took to X to announce a livestream with Kick streamer Adin Ross to address allegations that he engaged in a rug pull of a meme coin known as MLG coin. Claiming the situation was caused by "wild miscommunication" and that it had "destroyed" his mental health over the last few months, he wrote:

"On the phone with Adin right now, we’re doing a stream together tonight to address ALL OF THIS. This whole thing has been wildly miscommunicated and destroyed my mental the last several months. I’ve wanted to more publicly talk about this situation for a while. Sucks any of this f**ked with me and Adins relationship. See you guys tonight."

FaZe Banks posted another X post a few hours later, stating that he had "never scammed anyone." He then announced his departure from FaZe Clan for "the time being," claiming that the situation was "destroying his life inside and out."

The 33-year-old added:

"I’ve never scammed anyone a day in my fucking life. The entire narrative is unfair and part of the reason it exists is cause my “FaZe” name is so easily farmed and manipulated. The fact this is affecting the guys at all, is whack. So for the time being I’m gunna be stepping away from not only FaZe, but all this internet s**t. It’s destroying my life inside and out. Sucks my entire life gets ruined over something I didn’t even do. The real ones know. I wish I could say I’ll be back, but I really don’t know if I will."

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Adin Ross called out a group that allegedly rug-pulled MLG meme coin a few weeks before FaZe Banks announced stepping away from FaZe Clan

During a livestream on July 10, 2025, Adin Ross responded to an X post by @rasmr_eth, who called the Kick ambassador a "b**ch a**" for selling his Ethereum cryptocurrency.

In response, Ross admitted to selling Ethereum at a lower price point. He also called the X user and their "schemy little friends" out for dumping the MLG meme coin. While he did not explicitly name FaZe Banks during the livestream, the Florida native stated:

"Yes, Rasmr, I sold Ethereum at the bottom because you and your schemy little friends wanted to dump on stream with me. And I bought a $25 million house, something you'll never accomplish. You should pay your taxes with all the ETH that you don't claim. I'm friends with Trump, so when I go to the White House, I'll just, like, put your whole group that you guys don't pay your taxes and stuff like that. So, I paid taxes on all my crypto. So, yeah, I couldn't get approved for, like, a loan if I didn't pay my taxes. So, I paid my taxes."

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"Adin Ross f**ked this up, this community dumped on him buying": FaZe Banks' alleged text message about Kick streamer in the "MLG Official Main Chat" surfaces

On July 28, 2025, an alleged text message shared by FaZe Banks in the "MLG Official Main Chat" surfaced on social media. In it, FaZe Clan's founding member appeared to blame Adin Ross for causing problems, claiming that the crypto community "dumped on him" and "used him as an exit" strategy.

Furthermore, he expressed his belief that Ross' "ego got hurt":

"Adin Ross f**ked this up, this community dumped on him buying. Used him as exit liquidity. His ego got hurt, blamed Frank. Him and Frank got into it privately, Adin despises Frank and spins and drives a narative about Frank selling. Somehow this falls on me and threads to farm the whole situation spin it into me selling and dumping coins. When I ran the thing up from f**king $3m to $200m organically, top blasted multiple times, invested a f**k ton of money and NEVER EVER SOLD. The only bad actor in this entire thing is Adin. Point blank. Period."

Adin Ross later took to his alternate X handle, @AR15thed3mon, and claimed that FaZe Banks' alleged text message was "real." Describing the situation as being "sad af," the 24-year-old said he was hurt that someone whom he called "his brother" was going "behind his back":

"The banks screenshot is real. S**t sad asf , if you guys think that mlg being rugged was me im sorry to tell u it wasn’t. There’s a reason that entire house is silent, truth will come out eventually. I’m just more hurt on the fact someone I call my brother is behind my back"

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FaZe Banks claims someone was running a "smear campaign" against him

On the same day (July 28, 2025), FaZe Banks shared a series of Instagram Stories, one of which included a screenshot of a text conversation with an unnamed person, who claimed that someone was running a "smear campaign" against him.

Here's what was written in the text message that FaZe Banks shared:

"yo someone trying to run a smear campaign on u yo bro (FaZe Banks responds, 'It's impossible to be worried when you have real vision and talent and know in your heart of hearts you're a good person.') no like someone i know that runs all that twitter campaigns is saying someone is going out their way to pay pages (FaZe Banks writes, 'Yea I know') dropping 40-50k on spreading the narrative to place blame on u"

In a follow-up Instagram Story, FaZe Banks stated that he is "physically healthy," adding that as long as his "real friends, family, and people he works with know the truth," he is "good."