Hamburg man charged with murder over teen’s livestreamed death

A man accused of luring children worldwide into a sadistic online abuse network has been charged by German prosecutors with hundreds of crimes, including murder, for 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 victimised more than 30 children with online sexual abuse, manipulation and exploitation as a part of a virtual network of abusers known as “764”.

He allegedly coerced a US boy, 13, into killing himself in 2022, which was broadcast via live stream.

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

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

“White Tiger” would find vulnerable children and adolescents in online chats or games, develop a bond to groom them for abuse, then exploit them into producing sexual content and harming themselves on video, authorities said.

The man was arrested at his parents’ home in June. Authorities said at the time they had identified eight victims of “White Tiger” aged between 11 and 15 from Germany, England, Canada and the United States.

The case has prompted questions about whether German authorities could have acted sooner and prevented some of the abuse.

The Zeit newspaper reported that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the US alerted German authorities in 2021 to an apparently Hamburg-based predator using the name “White Tiger”.

According to Zeit, NCMEC provided a roughly 40-page document containing chat transcripts from the online platform Discord in which “White Tiger” demanded photos from two young girls, urging 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 also seized illegal weapons – knives, brass knuckles and a baton – as well as computers and hard drives, which are still being analysed, prosecutors said.

The Hamburg public prosecutor’s office said the criminal proceedings will be held behind closed doors.