Internet personality Jake Paul arrives at the Teen Choice Awards in Los Angeles on Aug. 13, 2017. FBI agents including a SWAT team have raided the apparent home of YouTube star Jake Paul. FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller says agents executed a search warrant Wednesday at the Calabasas, California mansion in connection with an ongoing investigation. She could not say what the probe is about or who the target was. Helicopter video from local TV news showed agents gathering guns from the home that can frequently be seen on Paul's YouTube channel, which has over 20 million followers. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
By Andrew Dalton
FBI agents including a SWAT team served a search warrant at the home of YouTube star Jake Paul on Wednesday.
The FBI executed the search warrant starting at 6 a.m. at the Calabasas, California mansion in connection with an ongoing investigation, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said in a statement.
A judge has sealed the search-warrant affidavit and Eimiller said she could not reveal the nature of the investigation or the person it was served on.
The City of Calabasas said in a statement on its social media pages that it was Paul's home that was being raided by the FBI, which was using the city hall parking lot as a staging area.
Video from local television news helicopters showed agents gathering several rifles from the sprawling property with a boxing ring and hot tub in the backyard that appears in many of Paul's recent YouTube videos.
A SWAT team initially entered the property, Eimiller said. No arrests were made.
Email messages left with representatives for Paul seeking comment on the raid were not immediately returned.
Paul, 23, has over 20 million followers on his YouTube channel, which features stunts, pranks, stories from his personal life, and more recently music videos.
He rose to fame on the short video app Vine and spent two years as an actor on the Disney Channel show Bizaardvark.
His older brother, Logan Paul, has a similar YouTube channel with even more followers.
Neighbors have complained to media outlets for several years about the stunts Jake Paul has pulled on the property for his YouTube channel.
Last month, Calabasas Mayor Alicia Weintraub harshly criticized him after video emerged of dozens of people at a party at his home amid the coronavirus outbreak, with no apparent masks or social distancing.
In June, he was charged with criminal trespassing and unlawful assembly by police in Scottsdale, Arizona when he appeared on video inside a mall that a big crowd of people had broken into, looting stores.
Paul said in a subsequent YouTube video that he had only been looking for people protesting the death of George Floyd, and did not take part in any of the destruction.
Mike Gauyo, writer and founder of Black Boy Writes Media, joins Cheddar News to talk about the new class of mentees for his Black Boy Writes/Black Girl Writes Mentorship Initiative.
Guitarist Ian Neville and Martin Shore, director of 'Take Me to the River: New Orleans,' join Cheddar News to discuss their new film and the importance of New Orleans music.
Fresh off of ringing the opening bell on the Nasdaq on the marijuana holiday, 4/20, Yoko Miyashita, CEO of cannabis website Leafly, joined Cheddar News to discuss the future of cannabis in the U.S. and the growth of her company going forward. "I think this is a new a new high, pardon the pun, but really elevating 4/20 from what used to be sort of an insider cultural moment to something that we're recognizing across the industry, really memorials the impact that this industry has," she said.
Model, actor, and deaf activist Nyle DiMarco, along with interpreter Greyson Van Pelt, joined Cheddar News to talk about his new book "Deaf Utopia" and deaf representation in Hollywood. DiMarco gave a glimpse into what his book focuses on. "I've always felt like audiences think that they know me well, but there are so many other stories that really make me who I am. And I'm excited to share those," he said. DiMarco also hoped he was able to capture in its pages the centuries of oppression that have been faced by the deaf community.
Marijuana legalization has spread across the country in recent years, and the number of Americans in support of legalization is at an all-time high. Andrew Bowden, CEO of the premium cannabis brand Item 9 Labs, joined Cheddar to break down the inner workings of the industry and how the industry can grow from here.
Home builder confidence has fallen to a seven-month low as surging mortgage rates and supply chain issues boost housing costs. At the same time, demand for homes is strong, with homebuilding unexpectedly rising in March, despite rising mortgage rates. But, as the Fed raises interest rates, some analysts are pointing to signs of cooling in the housing market. Tim Rood, Managing Director of SitusAMC, breaks down the latest data and what it signals about the housing market.
While rising wages might be positively impacting workers, inflation continues to rear its ugly head. Will pay increases be able to keep up with the costs of living? Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com, joined Cheddar News to talk about how the American worker is contending with inflation. "I'm a little skeptical whether wages are going to keep that pace that some are fearful about," he said. "We don't have a historical record that makes that case, and we think about how through the last economic recovery that we had before the pandemic really began to take hold in March and April of 2020 wage growth was really sort of the last part of that chapter."
