The FTC sued Doug Monahan over claims that he misused the nearly $ 800,000 he raised on Kickstarter and indiegogogogogo. Monahan spent the money on personal expenses and Bitcoin the settlement expresses that Monahan does n’t agree to any wrongdoing.

ibackpack launched on indiegogogogo in 2015 and again on Kickstarter in 2016. Thousands of people funded the bags across the two platforms.

A cooler with a Bluetooth speaker, USB chargers, and a built-in blender raised over $ 13 million on Kickstarter.

The backers organized themselves in a Facebook group with the mission of getting refunds and tracking down Monahan. The majority of backers never got anything for the money they pledged.

In May 2019, the FTC alleged that Monahan was operating a’deceptive crowdfunding scheme’. He also blamed lithium-ion batteries and the recall of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7.

Monahan said he was considering a settlement so long as he had permission to eventually ship the backpacks to his backers. The settlement also suggests that backers wo n’t receive a refund for their backpacks.

The judge still has to sign off on this settlement, but both parties have agreed to it. Monahan keeps the agency aware of his whereabouts and retains records related to his businesses for the next 20 years.

The FTC settled with creator Erik Chevalier for close to $ 112,000. The agency only once before investigated a creator who raised more than $ 122,000 for a board game.