X sues Bitcoin account operators over alleged $278,000 creator payout fraud

Elon Musk-owned social media platform X has sued the alleged operators of a network of Bitcoin-focused accounts, seeking to recover at least $278,000 in creator payouts it says they obtained by manipulating engagement.

X filed a lawsuit in the High Court of England and Wales on Thursday against Vivek Kumar Sen, Zamyang Sherpa and unidentified account operators, alleging they fraudulently obtained at least 207,384 British pounds ($278,000) from its creator revenue-sharing program. The court filing is available on X’s Transparency Center.

The company claims the defendants coordinated multiple accounts to boost engagement by reposting and liking one another’s content and publishing identical or substantially similar posts, creating what the company described as a “false appearance of genuine, human communication and interaction.”

X suspended the accounts on Aug. 18 over what it called creator revenue-sharing fraud and platform manipulation.

X links six accounts to two defendants

The lawsuit identifies six accounts enrolled in X’s revenue-sharing program: @Vivek4real_, @Bitcoin_Teddy, @saylordocs, @TrendingBitcoin, @Kalshibacktest and @PolyBackTest.

The filing links Stripe accounts associated with the first three profiles to Sen and those associated with the other three to Sherpa. The accounts joined the program between August 2023 and February 2026.

The network allegedly extended beyond those six accounts. X named @BTC_Vibes, @MrSuperBitcoin and @Laserlump, claiming they repeatedly liked, replied to and reposted content from the defendants’ accounts to manufacture engagement.

How the alleged scheme generated money

Under X’s former creator revenue-sharing program, eligible creators received a share of the platform’s revenue based on the engagement their posts generated from other users.

The filing cites an Aug. 5 example in which @Vivek4real_ and @TrendingBitcoin allegedly published substantially similar posts within 11 seconds of each other.

X retired the revenue-sharing program on Sept. 7 and began rolling out access to its replacement, Original Content Rewards, the following day.

In addition to the alleged fraudulent payouts, X says it expects at least 75,000 British pounds ($100,000) in investigation and remediation costs, bringing its claimed and projected losses to at least 282,384 pounds before interest and legal costs.

Cointelegraph sought comment through an email address linked to Sen in the filing but had not received a response by publication. Sherpa could not be reached for comment.