Coffeezilla

Stephen Findeisen studied chemical engineering at Texas A&M University and had no formal journalism training; he started on YouTube in 2014 with general explainers such as “Why Bad Science Spreads,” and in 2018 launched the Coffeezilla persona to expose multilevel marketers and “fake gurus.”⁠[1]

In 2021, he released videos investigating Instagram personality Jay Mazini (Jebara Igbara).⁠[1]

In November 2022, Igbara pleaded guilty to wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering; U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said he had used his Instagram popularity to steal at least $8 million.⁠[2]

In 2021 he released videos tracing the “Save the Kids” token, promoted as giving part of its sales to charity, which crashed soon after launch; FaZe Clan then removed Frazier “Kay” Khattri and suspended three other members who had promoted it. Kay sent him a cease-and-desist letter accusing him of extortion and defamation and demanding the videos be deleted.⁠[3]

After FTX collapsed, he pressed Sam Bankman-FriedSam Bankman-FriedSam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is an American entrepreneur and the co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and the crypto hedge fund Alameda Research. After FTX collapsed in November 2022, he was charged in the United States with misappropriating customer funds; in November 2023 a jury found him guilty on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, in March 2024 he was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to forfeit about $11 billion, and in 2026 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected his appeal.Open the full entry in a public Twitter Space on whether customer assets were backed 1:1; Bankman-Fried said some funds were affected by wires sent through Alameda before FTX had a bank account, while he argued that commingling customer funds amounted to fraud.⁠[4]

On December 9, 2022, he appeared on episode 345 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast, which introduced him as a journalist and investigator on YouTube exposing financial frauds, scams and fake gurus; topics included FTX and Bankman-Fried, SafeMoon, MLM schemes, Andrew Tate’s Hustlers University and the Save the Kids affair.⁠[5]

He made a series of videos criticizing Logan Paul’s NFT game CryptoZoo. In January 2023, Paul said he would no longer sue him for defamation, saying a suit “is not going to help Cryptozoo holders,” and committed 1,000 ETH to let holders burn their NFTs to recover the 0.1 ETH mint price.⁠[6]

His three-part investigation said CryptoZoo was never finished because developers quit over nonpayment, that players could not breed or cash out, and that Paul and associates had planned market manipulation. In January 2024, Paul pledged more than $2.3 million of his own money to buy back NFTs on condition that claimants waive claims against him; he said he “never made a single penny from the project.”⁠[7]

On June 27, 2024, Paul sued Findeisen in federal court in San Antonio, alleging he “maliciously and repeatedly” published statements about Paul’s role in CryptoZoo that he knew to be false and presented text messages out of context, seeking more than $75,000; Findeisen had not publicly responded at the time.⁠[8]

On the launch day of the HAWK memecoin in early December 2024, he spoke on a livestream with its promoter Haliey Welch; the token then fell about 90 percent. Welch later said she knew little about crypto and “trusted the wrong people,” and her lawyer said the SEC had closed its investigation without findings against her.⁠[9]

On December 19, 2024, he released the first part of a series on Counter-Strike 2 gambling sites, focusing on CSGOEmpire and its owner Ossi “Monarch” Ketola, and said CSGOEmpire had offered him $20,000 to investigate its rival CSGORoll.⁠[10]

In February 2025, he interviewed Hayden DavisHayden DavisHayden Davis, also identified as Hayden Mark Davis, is a co-founder and CEO of Kelsier Ventures, working in blockchain investment, marketing and token launches. His involvement in M3M3 and LIBRA prompted disputes over launches and funds. A related U.S. civil action was dismissed in September 2026; that ruling is distinct from the Argentine investigation.Open the full entry, linked to LIBRA, a SolanaSolanaSolana is a proof-of-stake (PoS) public blockchain designed for high throughput and low latency, with SOL as its native token; it was developed by Solana Labs and launched Mainnet Beta in March 2020. It is known for design choices such as its Proof of History clock and parallel execution, suffered several network-wide outages in its early years, and became one of the crypto industry’s focal points in events including the FTX collapse, U.S. SEC lawsuits, and the listing of Solana ETFs.Open the full entry token promoted by Argentine President Javier Milei; Davis denied it was a rug pull, calling it “a plan gone miserably wrong,” and said he was custodian of about $100 million.⁠[11]

On March 26, 2025, Magistrate Judge Henry J. Bemporad recommended denying the motion by Findeisen and Coffee Break Productions LLC to dismiss Paul’s suit, finding Paul had sufficiently alleged the statements were “reasonably capable of defamatory meaning”; it was a recommendation, not a final ruling.⁠[12]

The case (Paul v. Findeisen, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, 5:24-cv-00717) did not go to its jury trial scheduled for May 4, 2026, and mediation by November 2025 ended without settlement; as of July 2026 it remained in pretrial proceedings with no verdict, settlement or dismissal.⁠[13]

YouTube: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/Coffeezilla (opens in a new window)⁠[5]

X: Public account: https://x.com/coffeebreak_YT (opens in a new window)⁠[5]