Ben Armstrong, a popular Crypto tweeter and YouTuber, brazenly questioned a federal judge’s authority by posting images of himself on a beach while required to appear in court.
In reaction to the YouTuber’s alleged harassment of lawyers in a lawsuit involving multiple crypto influencers, Ben Armstrong, better known as “BitBoy Crypto,” neglected to appear in court as required by a federal magistrate judge.
Armstrong and his attorney had to appear before Judge Melissa Damian on April 20 to address the YouTuber’s “harassment towards plaintiffs’ counsel.” On social media, however, Armstrong publicly mocked the injunction by tweeting images of himself relaxing on a beach in the Bahamas.
Several accounts claim that Judge Damian informed Armstrong’s lawyer, who was present as required, that she would issue an arrest warrant for the YouTuber if he failed to appear by April 24. Armstrong was absent from the proceedings in the Armstrong harassment case, which the court reportedly sent to the FBI.
In March, a group of individuals affected by the collapse of FTX initiated a class-action lawsuit against Armstrong and several other YouTubers, accusing them of promoting fraudulent activities through the exchange “without disclosing compensation.
On April 20, the YouTuber continued to make fun of Moskowitz and the harassment case during court proceedings. However, he added that he was “not flying by the seat of [his] trousers,” suggesting that he might have skipped court on the counsel’s recommendation. He again and again offered to appear before the judge in May through his attorney.
Armstrong will reportedly be prohibited from tweeting about Moskowitz and the case’s plaintiffs as part of the judge’s directive on April 20. He dismissed the lawsuit’s main claims earlier and compared the attorney to an ambulance chaser and a pig. Cointelegraph contacted Moskowitz for comment, but a response has yet to be received at publication.
Armstrong is a well-known cryptocurrency influencer with over 1 million Twitter followers and 1.4 million YouTube subscribers. He has attacked influential people who shape policy in the field, such as Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States, and Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank.
