FaZe Clan CEO resigns due to MLG coin fraud scandal, another real case of "rug pull" in the crypto world.

A big scoop has emerged in the esports world. FaZe Clan co-founder and CEO “FaZe Banks” just announced a temporary leave of absence for “mental health reasons,” behind which is a standard crypto world explosion story.

Here's the thing: Earlier this year, Banks and well-known streamer Adin Ross teamed up to promote a so-called air coin called MLG. With both influencers pushing it, retail investors rushed in, and the coin's price skyrocketed from several million to nearly 200 million in market value—then what happened? The price crashed overnight, leaving retail investors with nothing.

On July 28, chat records were leaked, showing that Banks actually shifted the blame to Ross in the group, saying that his buy-in was treated as “exit liquidity” (implying that he was also a victim). Ross admitted that the chat was real but denied participating in any scam, claiming that he also lost money.

But the problem is: **this is a textbook case of “pump and dump”. Influencers endorse → retail investors FOMO in → insiders sell off → coin price plummets. Victims start in the millions.

More heartbreaking data: According to Elliptic's cross-chain crime report, illegal cross-chain crypto activities surged to $21 billion in May 2025, tripling from $7 billion in 2023. Hackers and scam groups are wildly exploiting DEX, cross-chain bridging, and privacy exchanges to launder money and carry out large-scale scams.

Banks' current statement is: they have never deceived anyone, the name “FaZe” is too easy to be used as a guise, and the pressure from public opinion is too great, so they choose to remain silent. But the question from the onlookers is - if there really is no problem, why resign? Why are they throwing blame at each other in the chat records?

This case serves as a reminder to newcomers in the crypto world: any new coin endorsed by a big influencer should be treated with caution. Liquidity, trading volume, and contract audits must all be checked by yourself; you can't just rely on the hype in the live stream.