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YouTuber Jake Paul's home raided by FBI leading to several firearms seized, Internet says it's not surprising

A spokesperson for the federal agency confirmed to the press that, “The FBI has executed a federal search warrant in connection with an ongoing investigation”

Controversial YouTuber Jake Paul’s Calabasas, California, home was raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation early in the morning on Wednesday, August 5. According to a TMZ report, law enforcement sources said that Paul’s home was being searched and that a search warrant had been issued to do so. But it is unclear at this moment what this raid was about.

According to TMZ, the raid was a massive one judging by the manpower involved. The entertainment gossip portal described the scene as “a mini military parade, with several guys wearing SWAT and/or tactical gear hanging off the sides,” adding that there were at least 20 law enforcement officials there.

Speaking to Yahoo!, a spokesperson for the federal agency confirmed, “The FBI has executed a federal search warrant in connection with an ongoing investigation”. The affidavit in support of the search warrant has reportedly been sealed by a judge. The official that spoke to Yahoo! was prohibited from commenting on the nature of the investigation. However, the website reported that no arrests have been planned by the FBI. According to ABC7, several firearms found throughout the property were seized.

But why would the FBI raid the home of a YouTuber, especially one who is so famous (or notorious) and especially with such a large number of officers? It is possible that this may have something to with the party Paul threw last month where a large number of guests were observed not maintaining social distancing, not wearing masks, or not taking precautions of any kind at all. 

In fact, the mayor of Calabasas, Alicia Weintraub, was livid about the situation. “They’re having this large party, no social distancing, no masks, it’s just a big huge disregard for everything that everybody is trying to do to get things back to functioning,” Weintraub said. “It’s really just a party acting like COVID does not exist, it’s acting that businesses aren’t closed.”

Weintraub further said that she was working with the Lost Hills Sheriff’s station to ensure that moving forward, there would be a zero-tolerance policy on house parties in the city in violation of health orders. “No gatherings will be tolerated like this,” she said. “Something like this will not happen again.”

The month before that, in June, Paul was charged with criminal trespassing and unlawful assembly after he was identified among a crowd of looters at a mall in Scottsdale, Arizona. Paul faced backlash as videos posted to social media showed him walking through the mall, as looters smashed the glass of a Sephora and Swarovski crystal store. In one video, Paul appeared to be handling a stolen bottle of vodka from P.F. Chang's.

“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,” the Scottsdale Police Department said in a statement. “Paul also unlawfully entered and remained inside the mall when it was closed. As a result, Paul has been charged with criminal trespass and unlawful assembly.” 

Paul released an official statement on Twitter: "To be absolutely clear, neither I nor anyone in our group was engaged in any looting or vandalism. We filmed everything we saw in an effort to share our experience and bring more attention to the anger felt in every neighborhood we traveled through; we were strictly documenting, not engaging.” 

On Twitter, however, few people seemed concerned about Paul. Let alone appalled, people seemed to be celebrating the FBI raid. One Twitter user wrote, “Jake Paul being raided by the FBI is the least surprising news ever. I lived nearby in Calabasas and everyone hated him + his crew. REALLY bad reputation.”

But many seemed to also be speculating why his home was raided. A Twitter user, sharing the TMZ footage of the raid, wrote, “I’m guessing drugs or underage girls, but whatever it is, it’s clearly serious. Like, this is a literal army of police at Jake Paul’s home. They don’t do this kinda thing for minor instances.” Another wrote, “Surely Jake Paul would have had to do something extremely serious for this f***ing mini Army to roll up to his mansion, doubt this is over a party lol.”