A video uploaded Monday by popular Youtuber Vexxed alleged that Trap Nation founder Andre Willem has engaged in “hacking, doxxing, buying malware, selling malware spreading methods, hacking accounts and spreading Trojans using one of his Youtube channels,” and has been in close contact with at least one acquaintance with ties to infamous hacking group Lizard Squad.
The nearly 40-minute video, titled “Trap Nation 10,000,000 Subscriber YouTuber Exposed as a HACKER! (DDOSING + Lizard Squad),” covers troves of alleged information, screenshots, recorded calls and testimonies that Vexxed said he worked to organize for several months. It follows the story of Willem’s supposed relationship with a hacker named Kerem, who allegedly blackmailed Youtube music promotion channels in exchange for payments and possessed control over copyright strike additions and removals from certain channels. Willem was made aware of Kerem’s practices, according to alleged screenshots provided by Vexxed, and even had a hand in the suspension of one of Youtuber Hekya’s eight channels.
According to alleged screenshots of Skype conversations between Willem and Kerem, Kerem possessed ties to at least one member of hacking group Lizard Squad, who he allegedly said called in a bomb threat on the private jet of Sony President John Smedley. Willem’s own involvement with hacking was traced back to an alleged account on Hack Forums, a forum-based website where hackers discuss their methods and practices, among other things. According to Vexxed, Willem admitted to several hacking endeavors since 2013 via his Hack Forums account, including sending Trojan horses over Youtube and selling ratting services.
In response to an outpouring of attention and condemnation from the music and Youtube communities, Willem sent Your EDM an official statement via email regarding the allegations, including supposed screenshot conversations between himself and Hekya that he said refute claims made by Vexxed in the video (Scribd link below). He denied any association with the person responsible for calling the bomb threat on the Sony President’s plane, and claimed that he has never hacked anyone.
“This video was solely made for monetary reasons to slander and defame Trap Nation’s name to milk as many views & clicks as possible. A lot of the information provided in the video is incorrect and not correctly presented in a manner which shows BOTH sides of the story, not just one. For example, I was not associated with anyone who called a bomb threat on the CEO of Sony’s plane. I’ve never once hacked anyone in my life, I’m not associated with anyone from Lizard Squad; I’ve never sold any malware methods. Hekya was never hacked, nor was he RATTED.”
Willem then claimed that the Skype messages uploaded alongside Vexxed’s video were “manipulated in terms of time stamps.”
“I’ve never used any illegal methods to put or remove strikes on ANY channels. I didn’t even know the guy used illegal methods to do any of this until AFTER Hekya was terminated off YouTube. The messages between me and Hekya were manipulated in terms of time stamps on conversations. I said those messages, but never said them in that order. I’m a very bland typer and that’s how I talk.”
He said that many of the Hack Forums posts included in the video are not real, and that his account was stolen before it attempted to scam people.
“Never scammed anyone, someone stole my account on HF and decided to go ahead and scam people. Sounds suspicious but it’s the truth. A lot of those posts aren’t even real, they’re not on the forum anymore and you can look for yourself.”
Finally, Willem clarified the meaning of “ratting” and said that he never engaged in shutting down competing promotion channels nor used any illegal methods to boost his own.
“Ratting people isn’t hacking, I’ve fucked around with programs that act as remote administration tools and was curious to how they worked because I was hacked and my YouTube account was stolen at one point as well. No SSN’s were leaked. I never shut down any channels either or used any illegal methods to boost myself to the top, I can prove this with how I use series playlists and past claims on my MCN that were made.”
Check below for Willem’s complete statement, and watch the video in question further down.
