Here are my two cents on this topic. I've used SajuukX as a middleman before, and he's a very trusted member of the community.

Recently, Lightning prices have been rising by a lot. Forest Green Lightnings have doubled in value, Crimson Lightnings have increased in price by 20 keys, Purple Lightnings have seen increased by 10 keys, and even Saffron/Orange lightnings have raised.

Some people have benefited - those who have bought Lightning wheels before this price spike. Others who want these wheels for a cheaper price have found themselves forced to pay a large sum. I'm a trader myself, bought Crimson Lightnings just as they were going up (~40k) but I myself thought they were going to drop and sold them for 42k. So why exactly are they rising? They're going up for more than 50 keys now.

Painted exotics, statistically, will always be rarer than Black Market Decals, and from a pure rarity viewpoint, should have higher prices. However, when demand comes into play, everyone wants black market decals while people may only like a specific color for a specific exotic wheel. Crimson wheels look quite good in general, and pair well with many different combos. But if demand was purely based on looks, even if more people liked Crimson wheels than any other wheel, why are their prices 2x-3x that of other lightning wheels?

The key is well explained in this article. Some items are sought after not because they look so good, but because they are so rare and have such high demand. These are the "Louis Vitton handbags" of Rocket League, the Rolex watches and the Lambourghini cars. They're seen as status symbols, and if you have these it's a sign that you've "made it" as a large trader. And since people are willing to pay higher prices for them, their prices can stay at these high levels because they too, want to be seen as a "large, successful trader". That's the reason why the Type S is used so much during trading to show off, but almost never seen in high level gameplay as it is quite a bad car in terms of its hitbox (feel free to disagree with me this one).

I believe that the Lightning price raise began with another price raise - striker items. No new crates have been released in a small while, and there are so few items available (compared to TF2/CS:GO) that the market is getting very stale as Psyonix hasn't stopped crate 1/2 drops. Price manipulation for these items usually begins with a few people overpricing their items. Striker Heatwave is the best example - there are so few of them available, a few people selling for high prices is enough to increase the price. The Crimson Striker Lightning sale of 300 keys led to the increase in price for Crimson Lightnings.

People on RL are very fast to adjust their prices to the market - no one wants to sell their items too low. People are always looking for +1k profit at least, so often mark their prices up. This is exactly what happened with these lightnings - people saw that they were increasing in price daily, and it became not only the new "status symbol", but also something that would yield "guaranteed profit". Everyone paid more and more keys for them in hopes that they would sell for more tomorrow.

All of this has nothing to do with SajuukX. So why is he blamed for this? Because people are angry about the prices. People who want a sick Crimson Lightning for their Heatwave + 2 keys can't get it anymore. People look for a target to blame, and they look at the almighty price guide day after day and see the price for their favorite wheels going up day after die as their hopes of finally getting the beloved wheel dwindle. They see the SajuukX's name, and once someone finds some evidence might somehow indirectly prove that SajuukX is the evil master price manipulator, the witch hunt begins.

I know it's none of my business, but I still feel bad seeing such a respected member of the community being treated with such distrust. He's not the reason Painted Lightnings are going up, the market is. He's merely reflecting the market prices onto his spreadsheet. This is how a healthy community dies, my friends. If you really want that Lightning wheel, wait a bit and the prices will fall when CC4 launches. That's what I'm doing now.

Good luck with all your trading! ~ /u/rcchang

EDIT: If the post makes sense to you, please give it an upvote! Getting quite a lot of downvotes for no reason. If you disagree, use the comments to make your point - downvotes are for low quality posts.