Ricky Banks AKA “FaZe Banks” is a 27-year-old professional gamer, YouTube star, entrepreneur, and leader of the “FaZe Clan” who currently lives in Los Angeles, California. FaZe is an esports and entertainment organization that started as an online gaming clan featuring YouTubers Housecat, ClipZ, and Resistance. The clan currently has 106 members who are professional gamers in a number of popular games including Fortnite, Rainbow Six: Siege, CounterStrike: Global Offensive, and Call of Duty among others. The group is also full of Twitch and YouTube content creators with FaZe Banks being one of the more well-known personalities with over 5.3 million YouTube subscribers.
Ricky Banks is one of the founding members helped bring the group to prominence in 2010 when they started uploading Call of Duty videos featuring trick shots and other video content that went viral. The FaZe Clan has become one of the most popular gaming clans in the world and has celebrity members that include rapper Lil Yachty and NFL player JuJu Smith-Schuster.
FaZe Banks and the FaZe clan have been embroiled in a recent controversy where a former member, 21-year-old professional gamer Turner Tenney known as Tfue, accused the organization of allegedly limiting his ability to pursue his profession in violation of California law, passing on a lucrative brand deal because of a conflict of interest, and not paying him his share of sponsorship earnings. Tenny accused the group of giving him only 20% of the revenue from his branded videos published on Twitch, YouTube or social media and 50% revenue from touring and appearances. FaZe Banks took to YouTube Twitter to deny the allegations and claims they have only collected $60,000 from the $10 million Tfue made last year.
OK LAST TWEET – To clarify Turners contract does outline splits in prizes, ad revenue, stuff like that. But again we’ve collected absolutely none of it with no plans to and that was very clear to him. We have collected a total of $60,000 from 300k in brand deals (20%). That’s it
Here’s what you need to know:
1. He publicly feuded with YouTube star Jake Paul
Back in 2017 when FaZe Banks was a rising star, he was accused of assaulting Meg, a member of a rival team of YouTube content creators led Jake Paul called “Team 10”. The FaZe clan and Team 10 have been involved in a few different incidents over the years that seem to stem from the competitiveness between the groups.
At an L.A. club, Warwick, Meg claimed that FaZe Banks “clotheslined” her as she was walking past his table. There were a number of Team 10 and FaZe clan members at the club that night who all had contradicting stories. Jake initially announced the incident on his YouTube channel which spawned a series of videos from Ricky and Jake with various witnesses and others trying to explain the situation.
The initial story wasn’t 100% accurate and fans learned that the “assault” may have just been an accident caused by FaZe’s inebriation. Fans appeared to agree with FaZe Banks as Jake lost 60,000 followers and Faze Banks gained 200,000 followers on YouTube following the incident.
2. He was involved in a bar fight in Cleveland
FaZe Banks and his girlfriend Alissa Violet were involved in an incident at the Barley House, a popular bar in Cleveland, OH, in late 2017. Ricky Banks initially uploaded a story to Snapchat after the incident that claimed that he had been choked out by a bouncer and Alissa had been sexually assaulted after a bouncer grabbed her backside. Ricky had broken fingers and Alissa had a fat lip and black eye after the incident.
FaZe Banks’ fans took aim at the local bar, sending death threats to the owner and staff and flooding their Yelp and Google pages with thousands of negative reviews. The business then released the CCTV video of the incident which told a different story and showed FaZe Banks and Alissa as the aggressors.
FaZe Banks was almost held in contempt of court for making a YouTube video explaining the situation after the Judge ordered him not to. He avoided the charge but was forced to pay damages in the lawsuit.
3. He’s dating Instagram model and YouTube Star Alissa Violet
Alissa is a famous Instagram model with 8.7 million followers and a YouTube star who posts comedy videos with 3.8 million subscribers. She’s originally from the Brunswick, OH but moved to Los Angeles in 2014 to pursue her modeling career. She was romantically involved with Jake Paul in 2015 and 2016 before she started dating FaZe Banks in 2017.
The two regularly post videos together on YouTube and photos on Instagram professing their love for each other. FaZe Banks even bought her a $100,000 car earlier this year and Vlogged her reaction.
They were rumored to be engaged in 2017 according to a post on their Snapchat profiles. Alissa and FaZe Banks are still together but it’s unclear if they were married or still engaged.
4. He lives in the “Clout House” in LA
FaZe Banks lives in a compound comprised of 3 L.A. mansions that the FaZe clan has dubbed the “Clout House”. The house has an ever-changing roster of members that include professional gamers, social media influencers, and YouTube content creators. As of 2018, the members of the house included:
- FaZe Banks
- Alissa Violet
- RiceGum
- Sommer Ray
- Carrington Durham
- TeaWap
- RyanSwaze
- UglyGod
- FazeKay
The Clout House used to be one mansion before the group expanded to the two next door properties in June 2018 which expanded the house to 24 bedrooms. The house is 4 stories, 12,500 square feet, and has a price tag of $12 million with a monthly rent of $34,000. FaZe Banks said on Twitter that with the 2 new properties he now pays over $100,000 in rent each month.
The house is now used as an “incubator” to mentor and develop young gamers and Twitch streamers into stars. Before their feud, Tfue was a resident of the house and benefited greatly from being attached to the FaZe Clan name.
5. He’s known to have a short temper
FaZe Banks is known for his short temper and frequent outbursts of anger that are regularly displayed on his YouTube channel and the channels of other FaZe clan members. There are also several “rage compilations” on YouTube that recount his outbursts.
He was first known for his temper in the early 2010s when gaining fame on the FaZe clan YouTube channel.