MrBeast internal investigation finds no evidence of grooming, but discovery of ‘locker room boys’ behavior’ leads to sackings

Internal investigation commissioned by MrBeast after a former employee was charged with care a minor concluded and the YouTube star shares the results.

On Friday, MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, 26, posted findings sent to him by Alex Spiro of the law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, an outside attorney hired by Donaldson to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct that took place in his company.

“A three-month investigation into the allegations regarding my company has been concluded. The law firm/investigators reviewed millions of documents/messages and conducted 39 interviews.” MrBeast wrote on Xformerly Twitter. “I have been asked to refrain from making public statements to allow for a thorough and impartial investigation. Below are their conclusions.”

In the letter shared by MrBeast on November 1, Spiro addressed not only the allegations that arose after former MrBeast co-host Ava Tyson, 28, was accused of sending inappropriate messages to a then 13-year-old girl when she was 20, but also claims made by one of Donaldson’s former employees that the YouTube phenomenon knowingly employed registered sex offenders.

The law firm’s investigation, which was commissioned in late July and cost “millions” of dollars, according to sources, found no evidence that any of the charges were merited.

“Allegations of sexual misconduct (eg, pedophilia, grooming, child pornography, etc.) between Company employees and minors are baseless,” Spiro said in his letter. “The allegations have been thoroughly denied, including by the alleged victims.”

Spiro also wrote that “claims that the Company knowingly employed individuals with propensities or histories of illegal or questionable legal behavior are similarly without merit.”

The scope of the internal probe has expanded beyond just the public allegations made against MrBeast. A source told The Post that Donaldson and his newly installed CEO, Jeffrey Housenbold, were eager to look into all possible wrongdoing at the company and thus expanded the investigation.

As a result, other cases of less serious misconduct were discovered. “Several isolated instances of workplace harassment and misconduct were identified during the investigation,” Spiro said. “The company has been made aware of such conduct and has taken prompt and appropriate action to address the incidents, including, where necessary, disciplining or terminating the individuals involved.”

A source told The Post that those let go include senior executives to middle management and individual taxpayers. “Individuals have been released regardless of position, tenure or seniority,” the statement said.

Harassment and workplace misconduct uncovered by the investigation included inappropriate and sexual jokes in the workplace, an employee asking a colleague out on a date multiple times despite being repeatedly turned down, and employees meet without informing their superiors, according to an insider.

A source described some of the misconduct as “fraternity locker room behavior” that was “inappropriate” and “cannot be tolerated.” The source stressed that the findings did not include any misconduct that would “border on things like assault or rape.”

In Spiro’s letter, the lawyer noted that MrBeast’s company “has grown extremely rapidly from a YouTube start-up of a group of talented young people to a much larger entity” and that “it is not uncommon for policies and practices essential in a mature company would lag behind commercial success.”

Spiro also wrote, “It is clear that the company is committed to fixing historical issues and creating a mature culture where problematic behaviors are not tolerated as we enter this new phase.”

According to the investigation’s final report, MrBeast has “already implemented or is in the process of implementing” changes as a result of the findings.

These changes included “sending a clear message about the tone at the top,” bringing in a new CEO, Chief People Officer and General Counsel and soon-to-be-hired CFO, instituting “mandatory corporate training for all employees,” “developing new policies codified in an employee handbook,” creating an anonymous hotline for employees to report suspected wrongdoing within the company, “quickly expelling people who have violated company policy, regardless of their position or level,” and “identifying additional employees for training and executive coaching to address professionalism and compliance with company policy.”

At the start of the investigation, Spiro asked former MrBeast employee Dawson French, who goes by DogPack404 on YouTube, “to stop making public allegations against the company as they were the subject of an ongoing investigation.”

French has accused MrBeast of hosting “illegal sweepstakes” for fake online pledges. He also posted a video on YouTube of him interviewing another former employee of MrBeast, who made the allegation that the mogul knowingly hired a registered sex offender (an allegation that the inquest dismissed).

Spiro and his colleagues also asked employees not to comment publicly on any of the allegations made against MrBeast and the company “to ensure that the investigation provided accurate information and that witnesses were not tainted.”

The alleged victim at the center of the grooming allegations made against Tyson, a person known online as Lava, was among those interviewed and denied the grooming allegations, a source told The Post. Lava has also publicly stated that they don’t believe they were groomed.

The allegations against Tyson were originally made by a third party, a YouTuber who goes by the name Prism42.

“I would like to apologize for my past behavior or comments if they hurt or offended anyone.” Tyson said in a statement posted on July 23rd. “It was not my intention.”

“In light of recent events, we have mutually decided that it is best to permanently retire from MrBeast and social media to focus on my family and mental health.”

Tyson, however, denied the grooming allegations made against her. “I want to add that I have never babysat anyone. The person who is being brought up in these allegations has vocally claimed that they are false,” she said, referring to Lava.

Donaldson announced the internal investigation the day after Tyson shared his response.

“Over the past few days, I have become aware of serious allegations regarding Ava Tyson’s behavior online and I am disgusted and oppose such unacceptable acts,” he said. wrote on X. “During this time, I focused on hiring an independent third party to conduct a thorough investigation to ensure I had all the facts.

“That being said, I have seen enough online and have taken immediate action to remove Ava from my company, my channel and any association with MrBeast,” he added. “I do not condone or support any of the inappropriate actions.

“I will allow the independent investigators the time necessary to conduct a comprehensive investigation and will take any further action based on their findings.”

Lava replied to MrBeast’s post, writing on X“I commend @MrBeast for taking this situation seriously and hiring a third party investigator while also taking the appropriate steps to cut ties with Ava. Although the allegations involving my name are not true, I feel there are still a lot of other allegations that deserve a thorough investigation.”

Two days later, after reviewing messages on a Discord server that were at the heart of the allegations against Tyson, Lava provided an updated statement.

“Based on screenshots and recent messages, I’d like to make a statement about Discord. That was 5 or 6 years ago and I thought I had a good memory of the situation, but I was wrong. After reading the chat logs, these things were inappropriate and wrong,” Lava wrote on X.

“I spoke from my memory of the situation and I still don’t remember these conversations, but they definitely happened. These conversations should not have been happening with people my age, I strongly condemn them.”

Lava continued, “I still believe that I am not a victim of grooming, but these conversations should not have been happening with me and every other minor in this discord. I was a minor in this situation and not an adult influencer who shouldn’t have allowed this, I didn’t see it as wrong at the time.

Lava went on to note that this statement only applied to previous comments made on the Discord server. “I’m still with it,” they said in a later post, citing their initial response to MrBeast revealing the internal investigation.