Carpetbaggers

Carpetbaggers are people who exploit Chris's own infamy for personal gain, typically for money. Trolls of years past sometimes acted this out in order to rile up Chris, such as Liquid Chris, Jimmy Hill, and Jeff Ouzuo, though this was all part of their act, and no attempts at making a business out of it actually occurred. Several Chris orbiters in the late 2010s and 2020s have actually done so for business purposes. In a few cases, carpetbaggers have sought out Chris to collaborate with him.

Examples

Dillin Thomas

Dillin Thomas is a YouTuber who formerly covered Chris. On 2 February 2020, he began selling a "Sonichu and Rosechu Valentines Day" shirt on Teespring, featuring art his girlfriend Taylor had drawn of Sonichu and Rosechu. When Dillin promoted the shirt on Twitter, Chris replied, expressing interest in one of them.

In the wake of the Affair with Mother, Chris was arrested at Regency Inn Richmond while wearing the shirt. Dillin decided to further capitalize on this by relisting the shirt on Redbubble with the title "Chris Chan Arrest Shirt".

Ethan Ralph

After the fallout of the incest revelations, Ethan Ralph jumped on the opportunity to exploit Chris for views. Ethan, who had a history of vitriolic feelings towards Null, sought to interview Chris, in particular about Null.

When Chris was located at Regency Inn Richmond, Ethan livestreamed himself driving to the motel in search of him, knocking on every door on the second floor and ordering pizza in a failed attempt to lure Chris out. After being kicked from the motel premises for loitering, Ethan soon returned upon being notified that police were in the area and filmed Chris's arrest, all the while screaming comments and questions at Chris.

It should also be noted that Ethan goes the extra mile by attempting to sell t-shirts with Chris's likeness on it in his online store, without the latter's knowledge or permission, with no plans to compensate Chris for any sales made.

Geno Samuel

In 2018, Geno Samuel began producing Chris Chan: A Comprehensive History, a video series on YouTube. When Geno submitted his YouTube channel for monetization review, YouTube instead terminated his account over the clips of bullying within the series. Geno set up another channel to continue the series.

Although Geno claimed in 2023, while advertising other video projects, that he would be preparing for a "post-CWC timeline," he instead doubled down. Later that year, Geno began selling items based on Chris's infamy without his approval. These include knockoff Sonichu medallions and a shirt with "WANT WOMAN!" printed on it (a reference to Chris's infamous outfit at Fridays After Five). Geno did not compensate Chris over using his Sonichu character.

In response to seeing the items, Chris posted a tweet criticizing the medallions, and he also posted a YouTube comment requesting Geno cease selling the shirt.

Kenneth Engelhardt

In 2022, Kenneth Engelhardt wanted to collaborate with Chris on a Sonichu-themed business project during the Jail Saga. Kenneth envisioned it as an "extended universe" of Sonichu.

Upon learning of Chris's scheme to try to pay off Barbara Chandler to move out of 14 Branchland Court, among other disturbing comments, a disgusted Kenneth wrote Chris to inform him that he was planning to kick Chris out of the project. Kenneth told Chris that the project would be run by himself, Helena Fiorenza, and Eels and the Egg-man, by their agreement, and that Sonichu and Rosechu would be "broken down and recreated from scratch."

Chris ignored Kenneth and stopped responding to his letters. Kenneth has apparently since abandoned his plans.

Luke

In 2020, Luke mailed a large box of random items to Chris - which included things with relevance to Chris like video games. Luke paid Chris to autograph each item. On 8 October, Chris drove to Pennsylvania and dropped off the package at Luke's house. Luke then listed the items on Mercari as the storefront "CWCStore", but deceptively claimed that the items had belonged to Chris or his family members.

Praetor

In September 2020, Praetor met with Chris and arranged a business partnership with him. Praetor's first item put up for sale on the group's shop OfficialCWCmart was a Sonichu-style medallion. The medallions were produced by Praetor, who paid Chris a royalty for the usage of his Sonichu character.

OfficialCWCmart later expanded to other offerings, some produced by Praetor, and some by Chris.

In mid-2023, Praetor leader Caden Peck was involved with financing the Big Island, VA house. Chris currently lives in it and pays rent.

Chris and Praetor's partnership remains active as of 2024.

Winfield Winfield

Dylan Winfield, also known as Winfield Winfield, is a self-published horror novel author, intending his debut novel Cult of the Eclipse to be the first in a series. Dylan seemed to have found promoting his book by spamming Reddit and Twitter ineffective, so in June 2021 he hit upon the idea of requesting Chris do a video review of his book. Although Chris agreed, the review did not come to pass, particularly due to the subsequent incest revelations and Jail Saga.

Undeterred, on 6 September 2021, Dylan traveled to Ruckersville, where he trespassed at the yard of 14 Branchland Court while taking photos and recording video of its neglected state. During his video commentary, he advertised his book. The following day, he uploaded the video and messaged GiBi on Twitter. This resulted in his exposure and doxing on the Kiwi Farms, and several people calling him out on his clout-chasing attempts, after which he deleted his video within an hour, suggesting he was following the thread. Why, then, he didn't know better is a mystery.