MachiBigBrother, an NFT trader also known as Jeffrey Huang, has filed a lawsuit against ZachXBT, an independent blockchain detective, after the on-chain sleuth published a report last year alleging Huang had embezzled tens of millions of dollars’ worth of crypto. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, claims ZachXBT defamed MachiBigBrother, “inflict[ing] serious reputational and monetary harm” on him. According to the complaint, ZachXBT published an article on Medium.com and “maliciously promoted the article to his more than 300,000 Twitter followers” without considering the “ruinous effect” it could have on Huang.
The report in question alleged MachiBigBrother had manipulated crypto markets and embezzled 22,000 ether, worth nearly $38 million at the time of writing. ZachXBT responded to the lawsuit on Twitter, calling it “a classic David [and] Goliath story” and asking his followers to donate crypto to a wallet dedicated to his legal costs. The wallet has since received almost $95,000 worth of crypto donations.
The complaint requests the court order ZachXBT to pay “actual and compensatory damages,” in addition to “exemplary damages” of an amount to be determined by the court. It also requests Jeffrey Huang be reimbursed for any legal fees he racks up during the impending legal battle.
ZachXBT has gained notoriety in the crypto community for his blockchain data analyses that allegedly expose the misdeeds of bad actors in decentralized finance and Web3 spaces. His investigations have earned him a following of more than 400,000 users on Twitter and a spot on Consensus Magazine’s Most Influential 2022 list.