Reckless Ben claims he is now legally forbidden from investigating LEGO reseller Bricks & Minifigs, or else he will go to jail. The YouTuber released a short video entitled "My final message" where he directly addresses the ongoing situation revolving around Bricks & Minifigs. He noted that he was digitally served papers that state he can't post or talk about Bricks & Minifigs or else he will go straight to jail.
Ben noted that he's not one to be intimidated by threats like this, but his friends would also be impacted and the money he raised for his legal fees through GoFundMe would also be seized. He went on to allege that he was issued the gag order because the accusors claim he was issuing bomb threats and death threats. He also states he wasn't able to give his side to the courts. The YouTube video's description notes that he plans to upload another episode about the LEGO debacle in the future, should things get sorted out.
If you're not up to speed on the situation, we've covered the debacle at length here and here. I highly recommend checking those stories out, as well as Ben's videos for the full story, but I'll also try to quickly summarize the events: A man named Bryan Mansell entered a consignment deal with LEGO reseller Bricks & Minifigs, allowing the retailer to take his father's massive LEGO Star Wars collection (reportedly valued at around $200,000) and sell it on his behalf. He would then give a portion of the sales to Bricks & Minifigs as part of the deal. The LEGOs still belonged to Mansell and his father; this was just a place for them to be stored for the purpose of being sold.
However, Bricks & Minifigs corporate allegedly performed a hostile takeover of the Oregon store where this collection was being sold and forced out the owner, replacing her with new mangement. The new owners claimed to have no knowledge of this consignment deal (they were captured on video acknowledging the consignment deal when they took over the store) and refused to honor it, stating that franchisees were not authorized to enter into deals like this. However, previous owner Chrystal Gorman posted her franchisee contract online, which does in fact state these deals are allowed.
Instead of giving Mansell his LEGOs back, the new owners, Joshua Johnson and Brandon Best, held on to them. When Mansell attempted to resolve the situation, they allegedly threatened to bury him in legal fees with a drawn out court case. This then led to Mansell reaching out to Reckless Ben, who has since spent months investigating the situation. However, Johnson and Best allegedly weaponized local police against Ben and targeted him with raids, traffic stops, and more.
The police refused to help with the situation and Ben speculated it was because Best, Johnson, and the local police all belonged to the same Mormon church. Unredacted body cam footage from Ben's various police encounters was later leaked, leading to allegations of abuse of power and violations of Ben's constitutional rights.
All of this eventually led to a warrant being put out for Ben's arrest, on charges of stalking and harassment, prompting him to allegedly flee to Mexico. After the situation went viral in early June, Bricks & Minifigs put out a public statement looking to resolve the situation with Mansell, stating they would give him his collection back, as well as any other LEGO Star Wars sets they had, regardless of if they belonged to him or not. As of right now, it's unclear if Mansell will accept it or not.
Best and Johnson have since parted ways with Bricks & Minifigs after the public outrage.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
