Brian Krassenstein is an American left-of-center political-commentary entrepreneur associated with the “#Resistance” movement, a critic of former President Donald Trump, and the brother of Edward “Ed” Krassenstein, with whom he often collaborates.

Background

Brian Krassenstein is the brother of Ed Krassenstein; together the pair are often referred to as Krassenstein brothers or the Krassensteins. The frequently collaborate on business ventures, writing, and social-media activity. ^{1 2}

Federal Raid

In 2003, Krassenstein and his brother began running a series of websites, including TalkGold and MoneyMakerGroup, in which users exchanged investment advice. On these two websites, the brothers sold ads for investment schemes, which were dubbed “high-yield investment programs.” Additionally, the brothers managed companies that provided server space to these programs, hosted their websites, facilitated their email newsletters, and provided monitoring services. ³

In late 2016, agents from the Department of Justice raided Krassenstein’s residence in Fort Myers, Florida, seizing his devices, financial records, and other material in connection with an investigation into wire fraud. According to a complaint filed by Homeland Security special agent Michael Adams, Krassenstein and his brother were paid sums of money by individuals engaged in illegal activities and there was reasonable cause to believe that the two had conspired to commit fraud. In their defense, the brothers asserted that they simply sold advertising space to the scammers in question, denied wrongdoing, and claimed that they did not know that the latter were involved in illegal activity. ⁴

According to a jointly authored statement by Krassenstein and his brother, federal prosecutors initially told them that they could be held liable for the criminal conduct of their advertisers and urged them to cooperate with the government to help prove its case against the advertisers. However, according to the same statement, the brothers declined to cooperate, citing fears that they would be killed in retaliation. Ultimately, the federal government did not charge either Krassenstein or his brother with any crimes, but rather seized a total of $450,000 from the two. ^{5 6}

Twitter

During the presidency of Donald Trump, Krassenstein and his brother were active figures popular with the “#Resistance” movement on Twitter, often replying to the President’s tweets, making calls to impeach and arrest him. However, in May 2019, Twitter announced that it had banned Krassenstein and his brother for life, claiming that that the two had operated fake accounts and paid for engagements with their accounts. At the time of the ban, Brian Krassenstein had more than 697,000 followers, while his brother Ed had 925,000. ^{7 8}

In 2022, following Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, Krassenstein and his brother reportedly reached out to someone on staff at Twitter and subsequently had their accounts reinstated. After their reinstatement, the brothers made tweets opposing Musk’s criticism of Anthony Fauci, mocking his critical position on left-wing social activism (“wokeness”), and accusing him of allowing antisemitism and racism to spread on Twitter. ⁹

Children’s Book

In 2018, Brian Krassenstein announced the publication of a children’s book, How the People Trumped Ronald Plump, which was critical of then-President Donald Trump and supportive of Robert Mueller, then-special counsel for the Department of Justice. In response, Twitter users drew attention to the book’s illustrations, particularly depictions of Mueller as muscular and shirtless. In response, Krassenstein and his brother posted pictures of themselves shirtless, as well as an assortment of characters from popular children’s cartoons, such as He-Man, the Hulk, and Aladdin. ¹⁰

1. Markay, Lachlan. “Feds Seized a Fortune From #Resistance Icons Accused of Boosting Online ‘Ponzi Schemes.’” The Daily Beast. May 22, 2018. Accessed June 26, 2023. https://www.thedailybeast.com/feds-seized-a-fortune-from-resistance-icons-accused-of-boosting-online-ponzi-schemes
2. Klee, Miles. “Trump’s Cringiest Reply Guys Are Out of Twitter Jail. Their New Target Is Elon Musk.” Rolling Stone. December 14, 2022. Accessed June 26, 2023. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/krassenstein-brothers-twitter-elon-musk-1234646852/
3. Markay, Lachlan. “Feds Seized a Fortune From #Resistance Icons Accused of Boosting Online ‘Ponzi Schemes.’” The Daily Beast. May 22, 2018. Accessed June 26, 2023. https://www.thedailybeast.com/feds-seized-a-fortune-from-resistance-icons-accused-of-boosting-online-ponzi-schemes
4. Markay, Lachlan. “Feds Seized a Fortune From #Resistance Icons Accused of Boosting Online ‘Ponzi Schemes.’” The Daily Beast. May 22, 2018. Accessed June 26, 2023. https://www.thedailybeast.com/feds-seized-a-fortune-from-resistance-icons-accused-of-boosting-online-ponzi-schemes
5. Markay, Lachlan. “Feds Seized a Fortune From #Resistance Icons Accused of Boosting Online ‘Ponzi Schemes.’” The Daily Beast. May 22, 2018. Accessed June 26, 2023. https://www.thedailybeast.com/feds-seized-a-fortune-from-resistance-icons-accused-of-boosting-online-ponzi-schemes
6. Krassenstein, Brian; Krassenstein, Edward. “Our Civil Asset Forfeiture Nightmare – By Brian Krassenstein & Edward Krassenstein.” Independent Reporter. March 16, 2018. Accessed June 26, 2023. http://ir.net/news/politics/128264/ed-krassenstein-brian-krassenstein/
7. Sommer, Will. “Twitter Bans #Resistance-Famous Krassenstein Brothers for Allegedly Operating Fake Accounts.” The Daily Beast. May 23, 2019. Accessed June 26, 2023. https://www.thedailybeast.com/twitter-bans-resistance-famous-krassenstein-brothers-for-allegedly-operating-fake-accounts?ref=scroll
8. Klee, Miles. “Trump’s Cringiest Reply Guys Are Out of Twitter Jail. Their New Target Is Elon Musk.” Rolling Stone. December 14, 2022. Accessed June 26, 2023. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/krassenstein-brothers-twitter-elon-musk-1234646852/
9. ^[1] Klee, Miles. “Trump’s Cringiest Reply Guys Are Out of Twitter Jail. Their New Target Is Elon Musk.” Rolling Stone. December 14, 2022. Accessed June 26, 2023. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/krassenstein-brothers-twitter-elon-musk-1234646852/
10. Krueger, Katherine. “Twitter’s Worst #Resistance Bros Are Melting Down Because You’re Clowning on Their Weird Kids’ Book.” Splinter. August 20, 2018. Accessed June 26, 2023. https://splinternews.com/twitters-worst-resistance-bros-are-melting-down-becaus-1828464632