Revealed: Russell Brand is raking in £5million a YEAR through fan subscriptions to his anti-establishment social media rants – and getting around his YouTube advert ban by plugging medicines as police continue to probe him over alleged sex attacks

Russell Brand is earning an estimated £4.7million a year selling exclusive online content featuring his anti-establishment rants while UK police continue to investigate him over alleged historic sex offences.

MailOnline can reveal that the under-fire broadcaster has recruited more than 120,000 people to each pay $60 (£47.30) annually to join his Awakened Wonders community group on social media platform Locals.

Subscribers can access exclusive and ad-free content from Brand who has built himself a cult following in recent years with his videos spouting conspiracy theories and his attempts to malign mainstream media.

In yet another apparent money-making move, he seems to be getting round YouTube’s decision to ban adverts from appearing alongside his videos on its platform over the allegations of sex assaults that he fiercely denies.

A MailOnline investigation found that he now includes plugs for products such as health drinks and anti-ageing creams in many of his YouTube videos, suggesting that he is cashing in on lucrative commercial deals.

One deal he highlighted this week, seemingly aimed at those concerned about his repeated warnings of a new pandemic, was for emergency packs of medicines costing $299.99 (£236.73) each.

Brand’s new revenue streams suggest he is continuing to make a fortune, despite the ongoing police investigation into claims he was involved in nine alleged historic sex offences.

His most devoted followers who pay to join his Awakened Wonders group are allowed to ‘interact’ with him and other community members on the Locals platform and its parent video site Rumble, while displaying a special badge to show their support of him.

The total value of the subscriptions is nearly £5.7million a year, but statements on the Locals website suggest it takes 20% commission from content creators, leaving £4.7miliion for Brand.

Most of his subscribers appear to be American, reflecting the content on his Rumble channel which mainly feature his commentaries on US politics, foreign affairs and corporate elites profiting from Covid.

The subscription fees are in addition to the estimated £27,000 a month he earns from conventional ad allowed to run alongside his videos on Rumble which is known for its high number of right-wing streamers.

It means that Brand’s earnings from Rumble and Locals more than make up for the estimated £1million a year which he lost when YouTube axed ads from his channel on the platform after he was first accused of a string of sex assaults last September.

Brand, 48, set up his Rumble channel called Stay Free in September 2022 after YouTube took down one of his videos on the grounds that it had broken its guidelines on medical misinformation.

His growing income could potentially lead to a big boost in earnings for his company called Pablo Diablo’s Legitimate Business Firm Limited, assuming that he ploughs all his profits through the business.

The most recent accounts for the UK-registered company show it made £2.9million profit in the 12 months up to December 2022, allowing Brand and his second wife Laura Gallacher to take dividends totalling £2.1million during the year.

The accounts revealed last month showed that the company held a healthy balance of assets worth more than £4.8million at the end of the accounting period.

Brand has continued to release his free to view videos on both YouTube, where he has 6.7million followers, and Rumble where he has 1.8million followers.

But while he is not allowed to profit from commercial ads on YouTube, many of his videos on the platform feature him plugging products, suggesting that he is netting commission.

In one video broadcast on Wednesday with the title, ‘IT’S OVER! Trump Just KILLED The Legacy Media And They’re FURIOUS’, he extolled the virtues of a medical emergency kit, saying it would be useful if shelves in chemists became ‘barren’.

The kit produced by a Florida-based firm called The Wellness Company contains eight medications including antibiotics, anti-viral and anti-parasitic pills.

Brand states on his video that it could keep families safe in the event of ‘natural disasters’ or ‘supply chain shortages’.

MailOnline found the kit priced on the company’s website at $299.99 dollars with a $30 discount for anyone using the name ‘Brand’ as a discount codeword.

In another video broadcast on Thursday, entitled, ‘IT’S FULL SCALE WAR! No one is ready for what’s coming’, he talked about the US ‘sleep walking into a war with Iran’ by bombing Yemen.

In a change of tone halfway through the video which has so far had more than 550,000 views, he states: ‘With all this corruption in the world, it is nice to know there are some things we can rely on like your love, your tenacity and vitality.’

Continuing in his wellness guru vein, he extolls the virtues of a heathy diet and plugs an organic superfood powder called Field of Greens which makes nutritional drinks and is produced by Texas-based Brickhouse Nutrition.

Brand describes Field of Greens as ‘the only fruit and vegetable product that literally promises you better health’, saying: ‘Each super fruit and vegetable is doctor selected for specific health benefits.’

A link to the Brickhouse Nutrition website shows 300g pots of the product in different varieties such as wild berry, strawberry lemonade or lemon and lime priced at £55.86 or £47.49 with a ‘Brand’ discount codeword.

Other pots which are ‘enriched with organic stevia’ are priced at £57.46 before the 15% ‘Brand’ discount reducing the price to £48.85.

A third Brand video on YouTube on Wednesday, called ‘DISEASE X IS COMING – Alex Jones EXPOSES the Davos Agenda’ features the broadcaster talking about the need to ‘form a resistance’ and a ‘counter punch to the attack on our freedom’.

Halfway through his video which has been viewed more than 660,000 times, he tells his US fans of the need to protect their finances, and states that their ‘best defence’ is to use the services of a tax accounting firm called Tax Network USA.

His video flashes up the logo of the company , while he describes its work to win tax refunds for clients and protect assets from ‘seizures’ by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), saying it has saved people $1billion in back taxes.

Yet more videos include plugs from Brand for other products and services including one for ExpressVPN which offers internet networks to protect people from ‘snooping, interference and censorship’.

Another features Brand’s recommendation for Genucel Skincare which offers anti-ageing products for people to ‘say goodbye to under eye bags, crows feet and wrinkles’.

An essentials package featuring two tubes of cream and a jar of lotion is on the Genucel website, priced at $148, reduced to $133.20 with a ‘Brand’ discount codeword.

Brand was accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse against four women in a joint investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches last September.

He strenuously denied the claims in the hours before the allegations were published, saying his relationships were ‘always consensual’, and attacked what he described as ‘media corruption and censorship’ and ‘deep state and corporate collusion’.

The alleged incidents were said to have happened between 2006 and 2013, when he was at the height of his fame, and working for the BBC, Channel 4 and starring in Hollywood films.

Scotland Yard revealed ten days later that it had launched an investigation into a number of non-recent sexual offence allegations in London and elsewhere in the UK, and would be offering specialist support to women involved.

The Met confirmed one complaint was from a woman who claimed she had been sexually assaulted in Soho in central London, although it did not name Brand as the man involved.

The alleged incident was said to have happened in 2003 before Brand was a household name.

Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, who is leading the Met inquiry, said at the time: ‘We continue to encourage anyone who believes they may have been a victim of a sexual offence, no matter how long ago it was, to contact us.’

Shortly after the Met probe was announced, Brand urged his followers on Rumble to subscribe to his Awakened Wonders community at a cost of $60 a year in a livestream entitled: ‘Are we being silenced? The battle for free speech’.

He said: ‘You know I’ve been demonetised on YouTube. You are aware that the government wrote to social media platforms to demand that I be further censored.’

Thames Valley police confirmed in October that it was investigating after receiving ‘new information’ two weeks previously about ‘harassment and stalking’ allegations dating back to 2018′.

The force said at the time that it was not confirming or denying any name that had been provided to them. 

Brand was first interviewed under caution by the Metropolitan Police last November over three ‘non-recent’ alleged sexual offences. 

He returned voluntarily to a police station in south London on December 14 when he was quizzed again under caution by the Met over six further ‘non-recent’ alleged incidents, bringing the total number of claims against him to ten.

It is not known when the information about the six new allegations first came to light, or how many alleged victims have come forward.

The Met was unable to give MailOnline any further update on the progress of its investigation.

A spokesperson for Thames Valley police could also not give a progress report on its probe, saying he was unable to check unless given a date when the alleged incidents happened and a location.

Brand is also at the centre of an investigation by the BBC about his conduct and how complaints were handled while he was a broadcaster for the Beeb between 2006 and 2008, initially for 6 Music and later for Radio 2.

The probe was ordered to establish what was known about Brand’s alleged actions amid claims that at least one senior executive was aware of complaints, but brushed them under the carpet.

Three of the five complaints being looked at by the corporation were reportedly lodged before Brand was publicly accused of misconduct in the media.

A fourth investigation is being conducted by Channel 4, where Brand worked for a number of years. The channel has also removed all of his content from its popular streaming platform.

The BBC was this week unable add to a statement issued in November revealing that it had had ‘undertaken significant work’ to establish what complaints or allegations had been made about Brand’s conduct.

A spokesperson for Channel 4 could also not give update on its investigation, other than pointing to its chief executive Alex Mahon’s assurance last November when he stated: ‘We are determined to complete our investigations as quickly as possible, but it is vital that this is done thoroughly.’

Brand was criticised by villagers this week over his plans to create a recording studio for his videos in the 800-year-old former Crown pub in Pishill, Oxfordshire, which he bought in 2020.

The broadcaster submitted plans to South Oxfordshire District Council last November to convert the pub which has not re-opened since it closed for Covid.

More than 50 villagers and local organisations have registered their opposition with some locals complaining that Brand was depriving them of a much-loved watering hole.

Brand’s application asks for consent to turn the venue into offices for associated digital media production activities as well as create a barn for community functions and events.