Logan Paul is one of the world's biggest influencers, a one-man brand whose tentacles reach into everything from wrestling to podcasts to sugar water. He and fellow influencer KSI recently scored a mainstream smash with their endorsement of an energy drink called Prime, but this success has been matched by one of the dubious elements of Paul's recent past: promising the earth (or at least promising it exists), making millions of dollars, and now overshadowed by a crypto-based video game that looks like a scam.

The whole CryptoZoo scam was exposed by investigative journalist CoffeeZilla in January of this year. This is because, after receiving a detailed report on the scheme, Paul threatened to sue the journalist before having second thoughts (or being persuaded), apologizing, and coming clean before promising a refund.

"I deleted my initial response to the coffee series. 'I am grateful that he brought this to light. I thank him for bringing this to light."

The plan was a promise to put $1.8 million of Paul's own money into reimbursing CryptoZoo backers through a scheme to buy back crypto assets purchased from the game at guaranteed prices. All's well that ends well, right?

Six months later, it doesn't seem so. Paul has decided to ignore the CryptoZoo thing and pretend it never happened, moving on to his latest highly profitable venture, while making public appearances primarily to sell Prime. The way the rich do this, of course, is by expressing their bona fides through their law firms.

Yes! Coffeezilla, the journalist who investigated CryptoZoo and got Paul to promise refunds, has now investigated again and, following Paul's previous plea to contact him directly, has gone several times to ask what is going on regarding refunds. The first three times he was ignored, but the fourth time he received a response from the law firm representing Paul.

"We represent Logan Paul. Mr. Paul has been communicating your outreach to us regarding the status of CryptoZoo's egg buyback. Mr. Paul continues to work on this process. We are working with Mr. Paul to determine the best way to accomplish this goal."

So: Mr. Paul announced a refund plan, which seems relatively straightforward with respect to such matters. Repurchase plans are not uncommon, and Paul clearly has the money (estimated net worth: between $50 and $100 million), so it seems obvious that his "vision" for CryptoZoo will not be realized.

However, Paul seems to be hoping that enough time has passed and they can move forward without refunds. I asked them about refunds and will update if I hear back.

Add one more to the list of controversies. Paul's success came despite various scandals that could have ended other careers, notably a 2017 video (for which Paul later apologized) showing the body of an apparent suicide victim in Japan's Aokigahara Sea of Trees. In fact, CrytpoZoo was not even his first dubious crypto link; the influencer had previously promoted the cryptocurrency Dink Doink.

CryptoZoo's website is still live, but they are "in the process of upgrading the core infrastructure of the ecosystem. Someday, surely; CryptoZoo says it is still up and running but is "in the process of upgrading the core infrastructure of its ecosystem."