Destiny 2 goes out as God intended: Amidst absurd streamer drama featuring four content creators, an esports org, a boutique PC maker, an ex-NFL star, and $180,000

A legal dispute between a Destiny 2 streamer, a former Destiny 2 streamer, a one-time NFL pro, and a seemingly defunct esports organization has somehow gotten even weirder than you might expect, as a third streamer has jumped in to give the first streamer $180,000 so he can continue pursuing a judgment he actually already won. Got it?

Trust me: you don’t got it.

The whole thing began in 2022 when Jake Strauss, who streams as GernaderJake, loaned $100,000 to Evolve PCs, a boutique PC maker owned at the time by Destiny 2 streamer Ari “TripleWreck” Smith, so the business could continue operations while waiting for an investment to come in.

Smith failed to repay the loan by the January 1, 2023 deadline, according to Strauss, and then later in 2023 Evolve PCs was acquired by Gamers First (G1), the esports organization founded by former NFL safety Kenny Vaccaro. Because of that acquisition, G1 assumed responsibility for repaying the loan, and Strauss said he was assured multiple times by Vaccaro that he would be repaid. Smith remained the guarantor on the loan—essentially, if G1 failed to pay, he’d be on the hook.

A new deadline also passed without repayment, however, and Strauss said that in early 2024 he was “ghosted” by G1 and Vaccaro, leading to the lawsuit.

In 2025, he won. “We were able to establish our fraud claim against Kenny—who didn’t even bother to show,” Strauss wrote following his victory. “Now that he’s personally liable for this fraud, Kenny owes me roughly $245,000 plus interest. Collecting this money isn’t going to come easy, but the debt will follow him indefinitely until l am justly paid.”

Strauss was absolutely correct that collecting the money would not be easy. In March he posted an update saying that he had not been able to collect the money, and in fact had sunk another $80,000 in legal fees pursuing the matter. While Vaccaro didn’t appear for the lawsuit, according to Strauss, his lawyers have apparently been putting some effort into fighting the judgment. And in a surprise turnabout, Vaccaro’s lawyers won: The summary judgment was thrown out, Strauss alleged in the update, because one of the legal notices served to Vaccaro went to an incorrect address.

“It basically put us back at square one,” Strauss said in the update. “We are gonna have to start all this all over again.”

Because of that, along with Strauss’ professed loss of faith in the US legal system and doubts he’d ever actually be repaid anyway, he threw in the towel: Instead of pouring good money after bad, Strauss put out a plea for a Texas lawyer willing to work on a contingency basis—that is, they’d get a cut of whatever winnings Strauss ultimately takes home, and nothing if the case fails.

Strauss asked for help finding a low-priced lawyer in March, and so the whole thing sat until June 7, when Jake Lucky—the fourth streamer in this ridiculous circus—retweeted it, with a summary of the situation. And that’s when streamer and musician Mitch Jones got involved.

“Damn i met @GernaderJake in a Halo 2 lobby back in 2006 when we were both 13,” he posted in a reply to Lucky. “We become IRL friends and were just 2 dumbass teenagers playing video games love this guy. crazy how far we both got as gamers. I’ll cover $245,000 fuck getting scammed love you dog.”

Jones actually ponied up $180,000, the amount of the initial loan plus the legal fees spent on the case. Given Jones’ hearty exclamation of “fuck scammers” and Strauss writing that “justice STILL has not been served to the scammers, we are still going after them,” I initially assumed the amount was symbolic, and the intent was to fund Strauss’ ongoing legal expenses.

In the video, though, Strauss makes clear that the money from Jones will simply be used to make him whole: He won’t get any interest or whatever damages the court awarded, but he will at least have the initial investment back, and the money he spent chasing it.

“I’m still looking for a contingency lawyer in Texas to find this man, and get the darn money back that we deserve to get back,” he said near the end of his latest update video. And if he does, “that money goes right back to Mitch Jones.”

And that’s where it stands: A streamer who was in a position to loan 100 large to another streamer has been given 180 Gs by a third streamer after a fourth streamer tweeted about it. It’s nice that Strauss got his money back, but the whole thing makes me sit back and shake my head. How, in the midst of everything, are a handful of moderately popular content creators able to throw around six-figure bundles of cash the way I’d spot someone a couple sawbucks for Friday night beers? It genuinely boggles my mind. I’m not saying I got into the wrong profession—my dad used to say I got a face made for radio—but man, sometimes I wonder. About everything.