Jason Itzler

Jason Lubell Itzler (né Sylk; born February 23, 1967), also known as Mr. Based, is an American livestreamer, felon, and former prostitution ringleader and pornographer. Itzler has an extensive criminal record, having been imprisoned multiple times for drug crimes, prostitution, assault, and money laundering and having been charged with aggravated assault with a weapon, burglary, and stalking in Florida.

Early life and education Jason Lubell Itzler was born as Jason Lubell Sylk and is the only son of Leonard Allen Sylk and Ronnie Lubell. Itzler is of Jewish descent.

Itzler's adoptive father, Ron Itzler later spoke on the topic of his adopted son, "You have to be ready for anything when it comes to Jason. Nothing surprises me anymore."

In 2001, Itzler was arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport for trying to smuggle 3,869 ecstasy pills into the United States from Amsterdam. After serving seven months in jail for the drug charge, he was released on parole in 2003, after which he started an escort service named New York Confidential. Itzler's prostitution ring quickly became the biggest in New York, leading to Itzler moving his base of operations to a 5000 sq ft. loft at 79 Worth Street in Manhattan. Itzler claims to have had sex with about half of his prostitutes. Itzler pleaded guilty to money laundering and promoting prostitution in 2006, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Following Itzler's arrest, his attorney, Paul Bergrin, took control of New York Confidential and resumed operations without Itzler's approval. Bergrin reportedly laundered over $800,000 through credit cards from the proceeds of New York Confidential and developed a sex addiction centered around Itzler's prostitutes. Bergrin was later charged with promoting prostitution, money laundering, and conspiracy.

In March 2005, Itzler was transferred from The Tombs to Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital. In an interview while in the psychiatric ward, Itzler said, "If I’m found innocent, I plan to go back into business opening up escort agencies all over the country. But I'll base it in Costa Rica – to play it a little safe."

While imprisoned on Rikers Island in 2005, Itzler claimed to have had actor Charlie Sheen as a client. In a call to the New York Daily News tabloid, Itzler stated, "But, um, I also recently acknowledged that Charlie Sheen was my client. Tried to get him out of a little trouble, cause he’s been seeing a transsexual and I wanted to help him out and show the world he’s a normal guy and not a, not a pervert." The tabloid satirically awarded him the "Tireless Zeal for Self-Promotion Prize" from this report. Sheen's spokesman Stan Rosenfield denied that Sheen was ever involved with a transsexual. “If you choose to believe him, that is your problem,” Rosenfield advised the tabloid.

Itzler ran a largely unsuccessful matchmaking service called "DNA Diamonds" from 2007 to 2008 where his primary goal was to attract wealthy bachelors to his matchmaking service. Itzler listed himself as "Dr. Jason Itzler, J.D." on his website for this business.

In 2007, a transsexual Rikers Island inmate known as "Angelina Jolie" sent him to the hospital. Itzler stated, "She walked up to me and said, 'If you don't shut your mouth, I'm going to break your face.' Even though she has a penis, she looks like a woman. I've never hit a woman in my life." Itzler was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, where he said a CAT scan found "severe brain trauma".

In 2010 Itzler shared an apartment in Flamingo Towers in Miami, Florida with Hungarian photographer Zoltan Present (then Prepszent). Itzler had previously faced several charges in Florida including stalking, burglary, and aggravated assault with a weapon. This apartment was subject to controversy when former University of Wisconsin-La Crosse student, Julia Sumnicht died in Miami in March 2010. As a result of an interview with Itzler while he was in a Manhattan jail where he faced other unrelated charges, Itzler claimed to have also taken GHB himself the night that Sumnicht had visited their apartment. Additionally, Sumnicht's body was only discovered after she had visited the apartment of a different photographer later that night.

A police report for Sumnicht's death said that after a detective identified himself in a call related to the investigation of Sumnicht's death, Itzler immediately hung up. A private investigator hired by the family of Sumnicht, Chris Catania, stated, "(Itzler) admitted to being in the apartment with Julia, and that he had consumed GHB himself. Knowing that Julia wouldn't have taken the drug on her own and that Itzler had access to it, you know, as an investigator, you put two-and-two together, and someone slipped Julia that drug."

In 2011, Itzler was arrested and arraigned by the Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., and the NYPD Organized Crime Investigation Division for prostitution and drug-related criminal offenses stemming from a scandal in which he claimed to have provided a prostitute and heroin to country musician Billy Ray Cyrus at Trump International Hotel in New York City. Itzler was running a second prostitution ring called "Rockstar Models & Party Girls". The judge decided to set Itzler's bail at $200,000 and suggested that Itzler have his head examined. An assistant district attorney, Eugene Hurley said that Itzler had been arrested many times in Miami, including for criminal charges like possessing weapons and trespassing.

On May 14, 2012, after his initial arraignment for his 2011 arrest, Itzler was sentenced to four years in prison for prostitution, money laundering, and drug charges after an investigation the previous summer found evidence that he had sold cocaine and provided a prostitute to a Manhattan customer.

Livestreaming career (2023-present)

In 2023, Itzler began an online live stream channel on Kick under the name "Mr. Based". Throughout 2024, he was a streaming partner and manager to Joshua Block, a popular TikTok creator and internet personality from Medford, New York known online as "World of T Shirts", who is often considered a "lolcow", an online term for someone who can be angered easily for laughs. Itzler labeled several co-streams as "Interactive Reality Shows", which revolved heavily around users' verbal harassment towards Block, who is autistic and suffers from alcoholism. In July 2024, YouTuber Alex Novell published a video on Sumnicht's death titled "When a Livestreamer Confesses to Murder" that included secretly recorded interviews with Itzler. On August 24, 2024, Itzler physically assaulted Novell in an incident near his apartment in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan. Novell began bleeding significantly following the attack due to a severe laceration to his head, prompting widespread social media attention, reportedly going viral on X, with many internet personalities such as Keemstar covering the assault.

Novell sued Itzler in March 2024 through the Brooklyn Supreme Court for $250,000 for assaulting him. Itzler was facing harassment, criminal contempt and terroristic threat charges in two Brooklyn cases for allegedly threatening Novell and violating a restraining order filed against him by Novell. He was banned from Kick as a result, and moved to Parti, a smaller live streaming website. He would be banned from that website in 2025 as well, with the reason stated being "terroristic threats". In 2025, he created his own website, wots.live (wots stands for World Of T-shirts) which features a mixture of live streams involving him, Joshua Block, and other creators.

In the Jan 30, 2026 release of documents from the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Itzler's name was mentioned in two emails. The first, a forwarded email to Jeffrey Epstein from Henry Jarecki contained a New York Magazine article detailing Itzler's career as a pimp when he ran New York Confidential. Itzler was also mentioned in a Jan 2007 email in the Epstein files where both the recipient and sender were classified by the Department of Justice. The email, titled, "Look at this website about that guy I told you about" contained the following message:"Hope all is well and you are still enjoying your vacation. Go to this site: this is the guy I told you about. He used to own an escort agency, his clients were wealthy people but his [sic] arrested now. His [sic] coming out soon and he will open a dating service company for wealthy people. Check the site.

Miss ya"

Personal life Itzler has been engaged nine times, married twice, and has dated prostitutes he employed, including his number one prostitute, Natalie McLennan, also known as Natalia.

Itzler has had Hanuman and "Super Lucky" tattooed on his arms since the early 1990s. Itzler currently lives in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan and is a fervent advocate of the pseudoscientific practice of "sungazing". In a 2024 Kick stream, he stated he was a Hindu. He appeared several times on The Opie and Anthony show, including phoning in from prison. He also appeared as a guest twice on The Howard Stern Show.