The CEO of a popular beauty brand appeared in a bizarre series of Instagram posts where he called for help and asked people to contact the police about his lost luggage

YouTube/Deciem

Deciem CEO Brandon Truaxe

• The CEO of Deciem, a fast-growing beauty brand that's backed by Estée Lauder, appeared in two bizarre videos on his company's Instagram account on Wednesday morning asking for help. 
• The CEO seemed concerned about where his luggage was, and at one point posted a comment asking people to call the police.
• Truaxe posted a follow-up video later in which he said he was ok, planned to sue an unnamed journalist, and called those concerned about his mental health "idiots."
• Truaxe reportedly has sole control over his company's Instagram account.

On Wednesday morning, some odd posts appeared on the Instagram page for popular beauty brand Deciem.

First, an unsettling video of Brandon Truaxe, the company's founder and CEO, appeared in which it looks as though he's being trailed by a man in a trenchcoat. The man in the trenchcoat calls out behind him and seems to say, "I'm trying to help you, Brandon ... you're going to get killed."

Truaxe, who appears to be holding the camera tightly to his face as he walks down the middle of the street, replies, "Johnathan, this is abuse. Johnathan, please tell them that I'm going to sue them."

The CEO seems to be concerned about where his luggage is at, and at one point is heard saying that he would post the video to Instagram if a car with his luggage didn't arrive in one minute.

We first spotted the video over at The Cut, which reported that an unnamed source had identified the man in the trenchcoat, Jonathan, as Truaxe's lawyer.

Moments later, a second video appeared on Deciem's account in which it looks as though Truaxe is crouching near a bush.

"Zouk [sic] Please help me, I'm serious," he says. (Jezebel points out that Truaxe might be calling for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to intervene, since his company owns Instagram.)

These videos were followed by a selfie depicting Truaxe and his purported lawyer in the background with the caption, "Everyone, please contact Biggin Hill airport security." Another comment posted by Deciem reads, "Call police...they have my luggage in the car."

A short while later, all of the posts disappeared from Deciem's account, leaving the media and Deciem's Instagram followers wondering what happened to the founder.

By way of explanation, Truaxe posted another video to the account a while later. In it, Truaxe says that he plans to sue an unnamed journalist who wrote about him, calls the people who commented on his earlier post "idiots," and says that anyone who wrote that he had mental health issues is "jobless now." Deciem did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Here's are his full comments below: 

Hi everyone! I'm just really enjoying reading all the idiots that write on Instagram and all the sloppy journalists that can't even afford their phone bills who are saying that I've got mental health issues. Steven Kaplan, your wife Danielle wrote that nasty email saying that I have mental health issues...you're all jobless now. I don't have mental health issues. Yesterday and the day before I was at risk when I called for help, and the idiots that said I had mental health issues: You should have helped me.

Anyhow, I'm safe now. Love the people who support me. And those idiots who don't: Believe me, anyone who's abused me, including that idiot [unintelligible] article that wrote... you stole my picture that you don't have rights to. My counsel will sue tomorrow morning.  Start respecting me and my company otherwise, believe me. If I look at a lion, I'm going to smile at him. If I see a vulture,  you're gonna get sued.

This isn't the first time that bizarre content has materialized on Deciem's Instagram account in recent months. 

In February, Racked reported that a photo of a dead animal and several pictures of garbage had been posted to the brand's Instagram page. These too, were subsequently removed.

Truaxe, who recently changed his title from Deciem's CEO to "Worker on Earth" on LinkedIn, reportedly has sole control of his company's Instagram account.

Truaxe's company, which brands itself as "The Abnormal Beauty Company," provides competitively priced beauty items like makeup, retinol moisturizers, and hair products. Last year, Estée Lauder invested an undisclosed amount into the four-year-old brand, which has enjoyed a robust online following among millennials.