FaZe Clan 'pump and dump' scam leaves fans out of pocket, FaZe Kay dropped, Jarvis, Nikan and Teeqo suspended

FaZe Clan has announced that Frazier "Kay" Khattri has been dropped from the organisation while his brother, Jarvis "Jarvis" Khattri, and colleagues Nikan "Nikan" Nadim and Jakob "Teeqo" have been suspended after involving themselves in a 'pump and dump' crypto scheme.

"FaZe Clan has absolutely no involvement with our members' activity in the cryptocurrency space, and we strongly condemn their recent behaviour," reads the short statement.

The allegations centre around a "Save The Children" cryptocurrency that members of FaZe Clan were promoting at the time of its launch. Those involved are accused of 'pumping and dumping' -- the act of buying in cheap (often before anyone else can), promoting it, and then selling it when the price inevitably reaches an unsustainable high; leaving those that took the influencers' word holding an asset that will never likely return to the price they bought in at.

All FaZe Clan members mentioned in the statement appeared in a video extolling the virtues of the Save the Kids token and FaZe Kay begun promoting it extensively at the start of June.

Influencers RiceGum and Sommer Ray were also said to be involved. Combined, they boast over 69 million followers and it is these sizeable masses that make such a scheme possible

FaZe Jarvis was one of four FaZe members that appeared in a promotional video for Save the Kids Token.

Much credit goes to YouTuber Coffezilla, who has been covering the story for the past several weeks and has worked to document much of the tweets that those involved have been intent on scrubbing from the internet.

The coin was built on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and positioned itself as a "charity token", the promotional video promised to "redistribute the wealth" to both holders and charities.

A still from the Save the Kids promotional video.  

The coin became publically tradeable on 12th June trading at $0.00321 a coin but it quickly dropped and over a week later it was worth roughly half of that, and on 2nd July, it is now trading for $0.00135.

Save the Kids is worth just a fraction of what it once did.

Coffezilla's original video on the matter uploaded a week ago brought the issue to wider attention, though the one released yesterday ramped the pressure up considerably as it showed that the FaZe Kay, Jarvis and Nikan all bought "pre-sale" -- before the coin was available to the public --  and dumped them to vary degrees shortly after they went public. FaZe Kay sold all his holdings and Coffezilla presents the case that he has consistently done this, not just with the Save the Children Token, but with every token he has promoted.

This isn't the only instance of FaZe Clan members getting involved in a shady cryptocurrency market as it goes right to the top, Richard Bengston aka FaZe Banks and COO of FaZe recently found himself facing similar accusations regarding cryptocurrency BankSocial, with the CEO of that company, Josh Wingate, telling Mashable that FaZe Banks reneged on a promotional deal that effectively meant he 'pumped and dumped' the coin. FaZe Kay -- in now-deleted posts -- also claimed to have been a part of that, having bought the coin and "2x" his money a short time after.

FaZe Kay boasts about his returns with FaZe Banks. (Picture: Mashable screenshot)

FaZe Kay did take to Twitter last week to apologise to his fans but it obviously wasn't enough to save his career at FaZe Clan.

"I want you all to know that I had no ill intent promoting any crypto alt coins. I honestly & naively thought we all had a chance to win which just isn’t the case. I didn't vet any of this with my team at FaZe and I now know I should have."

"While I’m very passionate about the crypto space, it's extremely complicated & I still have a lot to learn & I caution everyone to look closely before investing."

"It was so irresponsible of me to speak publicly about any coins without knowing more & knowing now that they can do more harm than good."

"I'm really struggling with the fact that I let you all down & more importantly anyone whose trust I've lost. My fans mean the world to me and I wouldn’t be where I am today without you."