You are close.
When Matt Hoss first filed the lawsuit Ethan and Hila retained some local high dollar attorney. This was when they started the "Fupa Fund", with the entire premise being that it would be used not only for them, but to support other YouTubers wrapped up in frivolous lawsuits. They garnered donations from both viewers and other YouTubers to this fund. Soon after, some high-profile youtuber attorney, I think Myers, took over and comped or mostly comped their lawsuit. They mentioned this in one video which was quickly deleted. They continued pushing the Fupa fund afterwards, with the same premise that it would be a pool of money that they would dole out to folks in need. At this time, based on Ethan's own statements, his lawsuit was paid for, other than whatever costs he incurred with the first attorney and some trivial fees from the new attorney. Based on what little we know I would guess a couple $10k, $40k at very, very most. My personal opinion is that the entire thing cost them less than $10k out of pocket, and I'm very well versed in these types of lawsuits. Even if it weren't comped, this is a $60-70k situation, which still would not have fully drained the fund as they claimed.
Then, almost immediately after that lawsuit, they bought a mini-mcmansion in LA and a Tesla P100D.
I still don't see how this isn't fraud. It absolutely is in my state. I don't know if they processed Fupa funds through their own company or a shill LLC/501c or where it would be located, but you can't collect donations under the guise that it's for public use and then drain it. It's still fucking shocking to me how little blowback there was and is about this particular situation. Say what you want about the other dumb shit like fucking over the fat youtuber who got them off the ground and hired Hila in New York, I mean shitty but on some level part of business. However this Fupa situation is bonkers, and his more recent response to it last year was total bullshit.... And still no one here even picked up on the severity. At BEST they used Fupa to pay for any and all lawsuit "costs" (I use that term lightly) shit like hotel rooms, entertainment, food, rental cars, frivolous bullshit costs. At worst they literally just took that money and used it for a down payment on that first LA house and a Tesla. Either way, the right thing to do would be to have someone trustworthy start a new fupa and donate back the missing money with interest.
To this day, one youtuber was helped with Fupa fund and it was some absolutely trivial thing like fighting a dmca claim. Not even an actual lawsuit. That money went somewhere, and he's never directly addressed it or said where it went. He always diverts with "how much he's helped the community" which to me, shows they blew it on personal bullshit and this is his own justification for sleeping at night.
