Months after a storm of controversies, Nuggets News founder and crypto influencer Alex Saunders issued a public apology over last year’s controversies and the way he handled things.Â
Back in 2021, Saunders faced a series of allegations claiming that he had failed to pay loans and investment funds. Those who were affected claimed that Saunders owed them Bitcoin (BTC). This compelled Australian media entities to conduct investigations and conclude that the influencer owes as much as $7 million.
The Nuggets News CEO faced a $350,000 lawsuit filed by Ziv Himmelfarb, claiming damages from unpaid loans. Himmelfarb said that he invested 4 BTC, 30 Ether (ETH), and $50,000 worth of stablecoins. As Saunders did not respond, a default judgment was handed down, requiring Saunders to pay the investor’s losses.
Alex Saunders on his channel. Source: Nuggets News YouTube
Apart from this, the influencer also came under fire because of a failed launch of a Decentraland-based project. The crypto influencer had raised funds for a virtual headquarters in the Decentraland platform. However, it was later revealed that Saunders failed to pay the studio that was supposed to build the virtual HQ.
After a long hiatus, the Nuggets News founder issued a public statement on Twitter claiming that he has settled most of his debts and is in the process of settling the others. The influencer admitted that he was “not thinking clearly and handled things poorly.” He said:
“Everyone I had any kind of dealings within the crypto space has now been contacted and either repaid, or in the process of being repaid.”Â
Related: Shopify facing another lawsuit from crypto holders over Ledger data breach
Despite the apology, not everyone believes Saunders’ recent announcement. In one of the replies, Twitter user Jexxa said that he thinks this is a “cop out” and that Saunders knew what he was doing to his “trusting followers.”
While I feel for anyone with mental health issues, this is just a cop out. You knew very well what you were doing to your trusting followers and their funds. Second last paragraph, straight back to shilling… things never change.
– Jexxa – mind your own keys (@j_jexxa) April 22, 2022