The prominent YouTuber Jordan Shanks-Markovina says death threats have forced him to take down a 2022 video on the development company Coronation Property.
Shanks-Markovina, who posts under the name Friendlyjordies, said in a statement that he removed the video, Coronation, because he did not want the “death of innocent people” to “hang on our conscience”.
The video made claims about alleged organised crime figures Shanks-Markovina alleged were linked to the company.
Shanks-Markovina said that despite police arresting a man last year in relation to alleged arson attacks on his home, which police say they believe were likely retaliation for the video, other people had been “threatening anyone they believe had handed over information to assist with the creation of the video Coronation”.
He contacted police about the recent threats but “it appears these men have engulfed the state in a state of fear”.
“It appears these men are indeed above the law. It appears these men are free to point the scythe at anyone they wish, blackmail them with the most heinous, violent acts imaginable and there is not an authority in the land powerful enough, or perhaps foolhardy enough to check them,” Shanks-Markovina said.
“We have done our absolute best to keep the video up. Believe me, we have. But if the content of Coronation is to fall on willfully [sic] deaf ears, if its only tangible result is the death of innocent people, we will not have their lives hang on our conscience.
“In other words, you win. We’re taking down the video. Congratulations. You run this city.”
Police said in December that it was believed at least four men had been involved on two alleged attacks on Shanks-Markovina’s Bondi home in November 2022.
Det Supt Gordon Arbinja alleged the men had “links to an organised crime network that is situated in the south-west of Sydney”.
Arbinja said police believed there was a “strong possibility” that the incident was linked to content Shanks-Markovina had posted online.
“There is a strong possibility that it is connected, but we are obviously saying the reaction was disproportionate,” Arbinja said.
“It is a possibility that it was in retaliation, it’s a strong possibility.”
