Did Jake Paul get arrested by the FBI over the Arizona 'looting' incident?
A video of Jake Paul getting arrested from his mansion in Calabasas, California surfaced in June 2020. The YouTuber-turned-boxer was seen being led into federal vehicles by officers for a misdemeanor crime he was charged for in Arizona, related to a mall looting connected to the BLM protests. Social media watchdog Def Noodles and several others questioned the legitimacy of the video and said that Jake Paul had faked the clip to draw public attention. The main point of argument was that if Jake Paul was charged with misdemeanor in Arizona, there was very little chance of him getting arrested for it in California. Heres context for laws and charges against Jake pic.twitter.com/lurV5a8ybb  Def Noodles (@defnoodles) June 14, 2020  Def Noodles also pointed out other factors, such as the Los Angeles Police Department's vehicle looking different in the clip than they actually are. There are many places in Los Angeles where one can rent actors and police vehicles by the hour for movies and shoots. David Dobrik has used them in videos. Pictured below is Cop Shop LA, and they feature the exact car Jake is placed inside at the top of their page in video. pic.twitter.com/Kcc5XnRoLV  Def Noodles (@defnoodles) June 14, 2020  However, certain developments later went on to show that Jake Paul's arrest might have not been staged after all. The FBI raided Jake Paul's mansion over Arizona mall 'looting' videos  It all started when Jake Paul posted multiple videos on his social media channels that showed the Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall being ransacked in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd and the 'Black Lives Matter' movement. The videos have since been deleted, but you can find them on TMZ. In a statement provided to The Verge, the Scottsdale Police Department said they received "hundreds of tips and videos identifying social media influencer, Jake Joseph Paul, as a participant in the riot." "Our investigation has revealed that Paul was present after the protest was declared an unlawful assembly and the rioters were ordered to leave the area by the police. Paul also unlawfully entered and remained inside of the mall when it was closed," the Scottsdale PD statement said. Jake Paul was charged with two misdemeanor crimes - 'criminal trespassing' and 'unlawful assembly'. The YouTuber denied any participation in the "looting or vandalism" in a statement posted on Twitter and claimed that the recordings were done to be "helpful and raise awareness." In a follow-up tweet, Jake Paul readily accepted the charges and urged his fans and followers to put the focus back on George Floyd and the 'Black Lives Matter' movement. gimme my charges and lets put the focus back on George Floyd and Black Lives Matter https://t.co/nwBZmsxFFz  Paul Paul (@jakepaul) June 4, 2020  Arizona's local authorities soon dropped the charges, but it turned out that a bigger investigation was being carried out instead. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided Jake Paul's Team 10 mansion in Calabasas, California on the morning of August 5, 2020. "The FBI is investigating allegations of criminal acts surrounding the incident at Scottsdale Fashion Square in May, 2020," the FBI told TMZ. Based on aerial footage of the scene from ABC AIR7, the FBI confiscated multiple firearms from Jake Paul's house, including a long gun that was propped up against a hot tub in the backyard. Jake Paul was not present at the premises when the raid took place and no arrests were made either. On the same day, the famous Graffiti Mansion in Las Vegas that belongs to Jake Paul's close friend Armani Izadi, was also searched by federal agents in a co-ordinated raid. A source close to Izadi told the Daily Mail that authorities were going through devices and hard drives, possibly to look for more unreleased footage of that night in Arizona. Edited by Harvey Leonard