The F.B.I. executed a search warrant early Wednesday morning at the California home of Jake Paul, a brash YouTube provocateur who was recently criticized for hosting a large house party during the pandemic, according to the agency.
The search of Mr. Paul’s residence in Calabasas, northwest of Los Angeles, was conducted as part of an investigation, said Rukelt Dalberis, a spokesman for the F.B.I.’s Los Angeles field office.
Mr. Dalberis said he was prohibited from disclosing details of the investigation that prompted the search. The contents of the warrant are under seal, he said, adding that he could not say when they would be made public.
An F.B.I. spokeswoman said that a SWAT team was used to enter the house, and that no arrests were planned. Mr. Paul was not home at the time, she said.
Helicopter footage from ABC 7 in Los Angeles showed the authorities carrying firearms from the house and loading them into an S.U.V.
Mr. Paul’s representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
Mr. Paul, 23, is best known for using controversy and internet feuds to draw viewers to his YouTube channel, which has more than 20 million followers. He documents his life on social media and travels with a team that includes a videographer.
Mr. Paul has found himself in trouble with the authorities lately.
Last month, he hosted a large daylong party at his Calabasas home where guests did not wear masks or observe social distancing guidelines as they swung from construction machinery, according to Insider. Guests posted videos to Instagram, and angry neighbors also shared videos on social media.
Mayor Alicia Weintraub of Calabasas condemned the event.
“It wasn’t just myself who was outraged, it was everyone who saw the video,” she told Fox 11, vowing that nothing like it would ever happen again.
“It’s just a big huge disregard for everything that everybody is trying to do to get things back to functioning,” she said. “It’s really just a party acting like Covid does not exist; it’s acting that businesses aren’t closed.”
Mr. Paul told Insider, however, that he had no plans to stop partying and that he was “not the type of person who’s going to sit around and not live my life.”
In June, Mr. Paul was charged with trespassing and unlawful assembly after he entered a mall in Scottsdale, Ariz., that was being looted. His videographer filmed Mr. Paul handling a stolen bottle of vodka amid the looting and posted the footage to social media.
In the days after that incident, Mr. Paul insisted that he had gone to the mall simply to see what was going on, and to capture footage to use on his YouTube channel.
On Wednesday, the charges against Mr. Paul and two other men were dismissed without prejudice, according to the Scottsdale Police Department, which said in an email that the decision was in the “best interest of the community” and would allow the federal criminal investigation to be completed.
Police officials said that they retained the option to refile charges depending on the outcome of the federal investigation.
Neil Vigdor contributed reporting.
