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Crime type
Coercing a victim into sending sexual images or money by threatening to expose intimate material.
Sextortion is the coercion of a person into sending sexual images, further images, or money by threatening to expose intimate material about them. This page covers criminal cases of that kind in which a Reddit connection is documented in the record, for example where the threat, the contact, or the source of the material is shown by the charging papers or by contemporaneous reporting to have involved a Reddit account or community. Victims are never named, and entries are written in clinical, non-graphic terms.
The term describes a pattern of conduct rather than a single statutory offence, so the charge shown in an entry may use a different name, such as extortion, coercion, or a child-exploitation offence where the victim was a minor. The tracker reports the charge exactly as the record states it. Victims of this kind of offence can be reluctant to report it, so the public record can be incomplete. Entries therefore state only what the sources confirm and flag outcomes that remain unresolved instead of implying a result that has not been reported.
This tracker currently lists 1 case in the sextortion category. Its latest recorded status is 1 sentenced. It is dated to 2024. It was brought in 1 jurisdiction in the United States. A status of charged is an accusation, not a finding of guilt.
Distribution of child pornography (sextortion of a minor)
Charges in this category can include two federal provisions. Section 875(d) of Title 18 prohibits transmitting in interstate or foreign commerce, with intent to extort money or any other thing of value, a communication containing a threat to injure the property or reputation of the addressee or of another person, or a threat to accuse a person of a crime. A threat to expose private material in order to obtain money can fall within that language.
Where the victim is a minor and the coercion is aimed at obtaining sexual images, section 2251 of Title 18 applies. It covers persuading, inducing, enticing, or coercing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of it, and it carries mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment. In those cases prosecutors may also use the enticement provision, section 2422(b), and the child-exploitation statutes discussed on the CSAM page.
States prosecute extortion, coercion, and related offences under their own laws. Cases outside the United States follow the law of the prosecuting country. This overview is general background and not legal advice, and it is not a statement about the guilt of any person listed on this page.
A case appears under sextortion only where there is a documented Reddit nexus. That means the defendant used Reddit to commit, coordinate, advertise, or first draw law-enforcement attention to the offence, or that a Reddit CyberTip, a subpoena response, or a direct report to the police or the FBI produced the charge. The bar is deliberately strict. A widely reported case is excluded unless the Reddit connection is documented in the charging papers, court records, or contemporaneous reporting; simply holding a Reddit account is not enough, and incidents that actually ran through Discord, Telegram, or other platforms are left out rather than stretched to fit.
The status shown on each entry reflects the newest official document the tracker has located, such as an indictment, a plea agreement, a verdict, or a sentencing judgment, and it can lag behind later developments. A status of charged records an accusation only: a charge is not a finding of guilt, and every person charged is presumed innocent unless and until convicted or until they plead guilty. Entries marked charged are therefore labelled as alleged. Victims are never named, and where a victim is described at all the description is limited to what is needed to understand the charge. If an entry is out of date, incomplete, or wrong, use the corrections page to report it.
This category is limited to cases whose central allegation is coercing a person through a threat to expose intimate material. Sharing intimate images without a coercive demand is listed under non-consensual intimate imagery, and cases centred on child sexual abuse material are listed under CSAM. Each case carries a single category, so a matter involving several kinds of conduct is listed on only one hub.
Report an error or request a change on the corrections page. The full tracker, with every category, is on Criminal Cases & Convictions.