Last week, tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, popularly known as MKBHD, finally revealed why he was contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2020.
What Happened: In the video, Brownlee said that the FBI had approached him to discuss the Escobar Inc. phone. The agency asked to examine all communications between his team and the company and confiscated the devices for a fraud investigation.
Back in March 2020, Brownlee showcased the $399 Pablo Escobar Fold 2, a gold Android phone that bore a striking resemblance to the Samsung Galaxy Fold. The device was named after the infamous Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
It was later discovered that the device was essentially a Galaxy Fold with a gold sticker on the back and hinge. There was another phone, called Pablo Escobar Gold 11 Pro, which was in reality an iPhone 11 Pro.
Brownlee had previously hinted at his interaction with the FBI, but his comments were largely dismissed as jokes. He stated that the company was allegedly sending phones to YouTubers and others for positive reviews, while reportedly failing to deliver devices to other customers.
“As I uncovered in my video, [Escobar Inc.] was covering Samsung Galaxy folds, cheaply with gold stickers, and then shipping them to YouTubers and people who they believed would talk about it positively.”
“Those people were getting scammed out of their money. And honestly, in hindsight, I don’t know how they thought
they were gonna get away with this,” Brownlee added.
In February 2024, Olof Gustafsson, the CEO of Escobar was arrested on charges of fraud, smuggling, money laundering, and illegal art trading, following allegations of failing to deliver phones to customers.
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Why It’s Important: At the time of writing, Brownlee’s YouTube channel had 19.2 million subscribers. At the end of the video, Brownlee also hinted that this wasn’t the only time he had a run-in with FBI agents.
However, the popular YouTuber didn’t give away many details and instead said, “That’s not the only encounter that we’ve had with the FBI in running this YouTube channel, but that’s another story for another day.”
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