Hamburg man charged with murder over teen’s livestreamed death | Germany

A man accused of luring children around the world into a sadistic online abuse network has been charged by German prosecutors with hundreds of crimes, including murder, over the livestreamed death of a 13-year-old American.

Using the pseudonym “White Tiger”, the 21-year-old man from Hamburg is alleged to have victimized more than 30 children through online sexual abuse, manipulation and exploitation as part of a network of virtual abusers known as “764”.

He allegedly forced a 13-year-old American boy to kill himself in a live broadcast in 2022.

Authorities said the crimes occurred between January 2021 and September 2023, when the suspect was 16 years old.

Prosecutors in Hamburg announced that they had filed 204 criminal charges against the German-Iranian man, including one allegation of murder as an “indirect perpetrator” and five attempted murders.

Authorities said the “White Tiger” would find vulnerable children and adolescents in online chats or games, develop a bond that would prime them for exploitation, then exploit them by producing sexual content and video to harm them.

The man was arrested at his parents’ home in June. Officials said at the time that eight “White Tiger” victims, aged 11 to 15 and coming from Germany, England, Canada and the United States, had been identified.

The case raised questions about whether German authorities could have acted sooner and prevented some of the abuses.

Zeit newspaper reported that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the USA warned German authorities in 2021 about a predator using the name “White Tiger”, apparently based in Hamburg.

According to Zeit, NCMEC submitted a nearly 40-page document containing chat transcripts from the online platform Discord; Here, the “White Tiger” demanded photographs from two young girls, encouraging them to harm themselves and suggesting they take their own lives.

Police questioned the suspect at the time, but he was not arrested until this year.

During the arrest, police seized illegal weapons such as knives, brass knuckles and batons, as well as computers and hard drives, which are still being examined, prosecutors said.

The Hamburg prosecutor’s office said the criminal case would be conducted behind closed doors.