News
TikToker ‘Billionaire Son’ Arrested After Filming Himself Tearing Sh100 Bank Notes
Nairobi, March 10, 2026 — Kenyan authorities have arrested TikTok creator Maximilian Motara, popularly known as “Billionaire Son,” after he filmed himself tearing Sh100 banknotes and posted the video online.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) confirmed that Motara is in custody and awaiting arraignment on charges related to the defacement of Kenyan currency.
The arrest follows a video circulated on TikTok showing Motara seated in a white sleeveless shirt as he tears several pink Sh100 notes while looking directly at the camera. In the clip, he rips the banknotes into pieces and discards them.
According to the DCI’s Banking Fraud Investigations Unit, Motara was wanted for allegedly mutilating Kenyan currency notes and flaunting the act on TikTok.
Kenyan law prohibits the deliberate destruction or defacement of currency. Section 367A of the Penal Code states that any person who wilfully and without lawful authority defaces, tears, cuts or otherwise mutilates a currency note commits an offence punishable by imprisonment for up to three months, a fine of up to Sh2,000, or both.
The video triggered debate online, with some Kenyans condemning the act as irresponsible, while others questioned why authorities were pursuing what they described as a minor offence.
Authorities have not yet disclosed when Motara will appear in court.
Kenya Insights allows guest blogging, if you want to be published on Kenya’s most authoritative and accurate blog, have an expose, news TIPS, story angles, human interest stories, drop us an email on [email protected] or via Telegram
‘A Million Things Could Go Wrong’ – Why Seizing Iran’s Uranium Would Be So Risky For The US
Forged Legacy: How Kaplan and Stratton’s Peter Gachuhi Is Accused of Faking a Top AG’s Will as State Claims Damning Evidence
Lobbyist’s Tweet Ignites Storm Around Equity Boss in Sh9.4B e-Citizen Saga
Newly Confirmed KeNHA Boss Luka Kimeli Dragged In Alleged Multimillion Tender Scam
Mombasa Lawyer On Radar Over Scandalous Garbage Collection Deal
THE BANK THAT BROKE THE TRUCKER: How NCBA’s Asset Financing Empire Is on Trial Before London’s Most Feared Arbitral Tribunal
Raila Aide Drops Bombshell: Babu Owino Was Never Part Of ‘Jeshi Ya Baba’ Exit Plan
The Invisible Hand in Your M-Pesa: How Safaricom Has Been Taking Money Kenyans Say They Never Owed
US Military Building ‘Massive Complex’ Beneath White House Ballroom Project: Trump
Steel, Graft & Impunity: Inside the Kenya Railways Scandal Driving Away Investors and Bleeding Billions
Kenya Strips Dutch Climate Body of Diplomatic Immunity Amid Donor Fraud Scandal and Allegations of Executive Capture
Tuju Forcefully Removed From His Karen Property With Masked Officers In Unmarked Vehicles In Early Morning Raid
How Little-Known Pesa Print, Linked to State House Tycoons, Won NTSA Tender Worth Sh42 Billion in Traffic Fines
Nowhere To Hide: Govt Begins Tracing Hustler Fund Defaulters Using National IDs To Recover Unpaid Sh12 Billion
Ex-Inchcape Kenya CEO Sanjiv Shah Charged With Bank Fraud
Named: Havi Says Mutava Confessed He Was Collecting The Bribe For Lady Justice Josephine Mongare, So Why Is JSC Still Silence?
The Man With The Golden Pen: How NLC’s Joel Ombati Is Accused Of Masterminding Kenya’s Biggest Infrastructure Land Heist
THE HANDSHAKE THAT BECAME A NOOSE: How Tuju’s Alleged Intimate Access to EADB’s Yeda Apopo Produced a Sh294 Million Deal With No Written Contract, and Why That Trust Destroyed an Empire
‘They Will Eat You Alive’: Retired Teacher Warns Against Bashy African Credit as Sh500,000 Loan Spirals Into Sh1.5 Million Fight
Waweru’s Bank Pockets Sh1.16 Billion from KPC IPO While Ordinary Kenyans Fled the Sale
-
Business5 days agoTHE HANDSHAKE THAT BECAME A NOOSE: How Tuju’s Alleged Intimate Access to EADB’s Yeda Apopo Produced a Sh294 Million Deal With No Written Contract, and Why That Trust Destroyed an Empire
-
News4 days agoMen Linked to Akasha Drug Dynasty Charged With Death Threats and Assault at Nairobi Nightclub
-
Investigations2 weeks agoTHE RUTO HAND IN TUJU’S FALL: How a President-Linked Petroleum Baron Walked Away With Sh3.5 Billion Karen Land for Sh450 Million
-
News4 days agoCity Lawyer Kimani Wachira Caught Up In Bribery Web Fights Claims
-
Business1 week agoBig Shame: EY and PwC Found Guilty of Fraud and Corruption in Kenya as World Bank Bans Lay Bare Scandal Inside the Global Audit Elite
-
News2 weeks agoDARFUR SULTAN CAUGHT ON TAPE: War-Linked Figure Runs Red Lights in Nairobi With Impunity
-
Investigations1 week agoIs Equity Bank Becoming A Fraudsters’ Den?
-
Business2 weeks agoHow EADB Threw Tuju Under The Bus