Popular adult film star accused of distributing child sexual abuse material via Telegram

A popular adult film star has been arrested and charged with possessing and distributing hundreds of child sexual abuse videos through the encrypted chat app Telegram, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said Friday.

Justin Heath Smith, 43, known professionally as Austin Wolf, is charged with distributing and receiving child pornography and possessing child pornography after federal authorities say they linked him to an anonymous Telegram account that shared child sexual abuse material.

According to the federal criminal complaint, the investigation into Smith began in April when FBI agents confiscated and searched a cell phone belonging to another Telegram user.

A search of the phone by authorities revealed that the Telegram user had been communicating with someone using the screen name “Anon Anon.” The two accounts exchanged about 200 videos and images depicting child sexual abuse between March 24 and March 28, according to the complaint.

The Telegram user told authorities that he and Smith had previously met in person and provided a physical description of “Anon Anon” that matched the adult film star.

Agents then used the Telegram user account to secretly communicate with “Anon Anon,” or Smith. According to the complaint, “Anon Anon” mentioned leaving for work on April 14 and returning almost a week later. A review of U.S. Customs and Border Protection records showed Smith was traveling on those dates.

The complaint says authorities searched Smith’s Manhattan apartment after “Anon Anon” claimed he had child sexual abuse material on a computer in his bedroom. Law enforcement recovered an SD card in the computer room containing about 200 child sexual abuse videos.

According to the complaint, the material allegedly included images of children as young as toddlers.

Wolf has nearly 800,000 followers on Instagram and millions of followers on X, and was also popular on OnlyFans. In 2018, he was reportedly the most popular gay porn star on Pornhub. At the time, a video he shot with an off-duty Delta Airlines flight attendant surfaced online.

Telegram, a messaging platform, has been found to contain harmful content. A recent investigation by The Washington Post found several cases of groups engaging in illegal activities or violating the platform’s policies, including users who post child sexual abuse material, videos of corpse desecration and photos of minors self-harming.

The platform responded that deterring these groups is an urgent priority.

“Child abuse and incitement to violence are expressly prohibited by Telegram’s terms of service,” Remi Vaughn, a spokesperson for the messaging platform, told the Washington Post. “Telegram has moderated harmful content on our platform since its inception.”

I need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Violence Helpline or National Sexual Violence Resource Center website.

Related…