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 announced Friday.

Justin Heath Smith, 43, known as Austin Wolf, was charged with distributing and receiving child pornography and possession of child pornography. Federal authorities said 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 informed authorities that he and Smith had previously met in person and gave a physical description of “Anon Anon,” which matched the adult film star.

Agents then used the user’s Telegram account to secretly communicate with “Anon Anon” or Smith. “Anon Anon” mentioned he was traveling on business on April 14 and would return almost a week later, according to the complaint. A review of U.S. Customs and Border Protection records showed Smith traveled between those dates.

The complaint says authorities conducted a search of Smith’s Manhattan apartment after “Anon Anon” found he kept child sexual abuse material on a computer in his room. Law enforcement recovered an SD card containing approximately 200 videos of child sexual abuse in the computer room.

According to the complaint, the material allegedly contained images of children as young as infancy.

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 host harmful content. A recent investigation by The Washington Post uncovered several cases of groups engaging in illegal behavior or violating the platform’s policies, including users who posted child sexual abuse material, videos of corpses being desecrated, and images of minors self-harming.

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

“Telegram’s terms of service clearly prohibit child exploitation and incitement to violence,” Remi Vaughn, a spokesman for the messaging platform, told The Washington Post. “Telegram has been moderating harmful content on our platform since its inception.”

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

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