FTCR Co-Founder Admits Using Patreon Funds for Personal Use in Departure

Gareth Spriggs, one of the founding members of popular community YouTube channel Find the Computer Room, announced he will be leaving the organization overnight amid ongoing personal issues.

Spriggs posted on Twitter that he will also leave the ongoing charity efforts of Fund the Computer Room, and said both organizations will “most likely improve, without me.”

In the post, which is likely to be deleted by the end of the week, Spriggs also admitted he used some of the funds accumulated from FTCR’s Patreon on personal items. The Patreon, originally intended for hosting and technology support of livestreams and podcast, generates more than $400 a month for the site’s staff.

“…I would sometimes use it for personal use,” Spriggs explained. “Either in lieu of setting a percentage each month aside for tax purposes to buy something dumb, or sometimes to supplement my income. [….] I would use the Patreon to sometimes ensure bills were paid. It’s not something I’m proud of, or something that’s fair to the Patreons, or the other members of FTCR, but it’s something I did.”

“I’m sorry,” Spriggs wrote.

The announcement came as a surprise to much of the community, who overwhelmingly offered words of encouragement and support in response to the note.

The FTCR team, which retweeted Spriggs’s note, said they will determine how to move forward as a team starting today.

This post was originally written by the author for TSSZ News.