Between questionable product placements and controversial humanitarian kitties, the influencer who made himself known in Koh Lanta is now in the sights of justice.
The end of the dream? Propelled by reality TV in 2017, ex-TV star Dylan Thiry turned full-time influencer is now at the heart of an embarrassing investigation. Passed until recently between the drops Booba’s attacksin open war against the “influvoleurs”, the young man is now overtaken by the rapper, but also by justice.
The Paris prosecutor’s office announced on Thursday the opening of an investigation into the management of its humanitarian association “For our children”, a few months after the first complaints for “aggravated breach of trust”. The organization is funded by online donations, part of which was misappropriated by Dylan Thiry, according to accusations by its ex-vice president, Sandra D.
According to AFP, which consulted the complaint, two pots are targeted: a first closed in February 2022 at more than 158,000 euros to help children in Madagascar. And a second from October 2022, which raised more than 95,600 euros. Just before the dissolution of the association on November 15, 2022. Sandra D. claims that the influencer would have demanded that the transactions be carried out on her personal RIB.
The voices at the heart of the file
The case takes a new turn with the broadcast of vocals from Dylan Thiry, by Booba on Twitter at the end of April. In two audio messages exchanged with Sandra D. (who denies having provided them to the rapper), he first mentions the possibility of helping another couple of influencers to adopt a child in Madagascar, against the sum of 100,000 euros.
“One, I take a big ticket and two, I’m not saying it’s for me. I say that there are around 150,000 euros of documents to pay, to settle, with the lawyers”, we hear him explain . Remarks “indicating possible offenses of child trafficking”, estimated the deputy Stéphane Vojetta, who seized the public prosecutor of Paris in stride.
In the second recording, Dylan Thiry claims to want to “save whores from being whores” by creating a MYM account for women, a platform known for its erotic and pornographic content, against part of the income generated.
The broadcast of these two audios, which the influencer attributes to Sandra D, led to a new complaint from the latter for “threats”.
“While I have your address, your last name, I would never have released that in the public square,” he said in an Instagram video. A story since deleted but recorded by Sandra D.’s lawyer and which Tech&Co was able to view. “GOD IS GREAT is you going to pay down here is up there (sic)”, he wrote again on April 27 on Twitter.
If he recognizes the authenticity of the audios, Dylan Thiry claims to be accused of “totally false things because taken out of context (sic)”.
Dropshipping and Miracle Treatments
This case is actually not the first controversy for the influencer, revealed in 2017 on the show Koh-Lanta and who subsequently participated in several other reality TV shows, before leaving to settle in Dubai . The Luxembourger then multiplies the placements of lucrative dubious products, with a large community on Snapchat and Instagram – a practice called dropshipping.
Then in a relationship with another reality TV star, Fiji, he notably offered his subscribers in 2019 “21pods”, a mediocre copy of Apple’s AirPods. Sold for 69.99 euros by influencers, these headphones actually only cost a few euros to manufacture. Some Internet users say they have not even received their order. “It went like hot cakes”, he explains today, also invoking the closure of its supplier in China.
Last year, the influencer once again caused controversy by touting a treatment that “cures cancerous cells (sic)” and that we would not find in Europe since it is “much more interesting for them that you go in the hospital and you call a blind”. He finally made his mea culpa in an interview with youtubeur Sam Zirahacknowledging that it was “a mistake”.
At the same time, a trip to Turkey, organized after the earthquake which killed more than 50,000 people last February, was highly criticized on social networks, many denouncing a “staged” video. A group of Belgians, who came to the spot and who welcomed the influencer, assures that he was displayed above all for the camera. “He took a package and pretended to carry it. And that’s it, then he cut,” says one of them in a video.
For his part, Dylan Thiry says he was the victim of an attempted racketeering by this group of Belgians, who would have taken revenge because he would not have received money from the influencer.
A withdrawal from the networks
On Monday, Dylan Thiry’s Snapchat account was closed without it being known whether it was a personal decision or the social network. Sandra D.’s lawyer also asked Meta to close her Instagram account. Unless he takes care of it himself, as he announced on May 8th.
“I have already disconnected my Snap account, I will surely also disconnect from Insta, at the particular request of my mother who is very badly affected by what is happening to me”, he announced.
Contacted by Tech&Co, Dylan Thiry did not respond.
