OnlyFans Creator Admits Guilty In Child Pornography Case

OnlyFans prohibits children's contrene on its website (photo: x @OnlyFans)

JAKARTA - A New York man who posted a sexual video of a 16-year-old girl on the adult site OnlyFans pleaded guilty in federal court to one charge of distributing child pornography.

Matthew Richardson, 36, faces a sentence of five to 20 years in prison and a fine of 250,000 US dollars when he was sentenced on December 19. The pleit agreement was reached in August.

Lawyers Richardson and the US Attorney General's Office for New York's Western District, which demanded the case, declined to comment until after the sentencing hearing.

Richardson's case was stated during a Reuters investigation in July about complaints to police that child sexual abuse material appeared in OnlyFans. Richardson was arrested at a rest area in Ohio in December 2022 after escaping with the teenager from New York.

The two met at a grocery store and started having sex. Shortly thereafter, Richardson recorded himself having sex with the girl. On November 9, 2022, he uploaded a video of child sexual abuse on his OnlyFans account under the pseudonym Skylar Ravenwood, according to a plea document filed in this case.

It was a nightmare, said a relative of the girl quoted by VOI from Reuters, who hid the person's name to protect the teenager's identity. He's still not doing well.

The Reuters investigation identified 30 complaints in US police and court records that child sexual abuse material appeared on OnlyFans between December 2019 and June 2024. The investigation said more than 200 videos and explicit images of children on the site, including several adults who had oral sex with toddlers.

OnlyFans did not comment on Richardson's case. His OnlyFans account remained on the platform for more than a year and a half after he posted the underage sex video. Until mid-June, the video showing the girl appeared to have been deleted. The account closed after Reuters contacted OnlyFans about the case.

OnlyFans says no children are allowed on its website and that they verify all content and immediately delete and report any child sexual abuse material. The company also says it can deactivate accounts that violate their rules.