Minors in "OnlyFans" lured by money and abused by adults

The father of a 15-year-old girl who created an account on OnlyFans said he doesn't know how she managed to do it, and said the company should keep children away from the site. "A child can see the dollar sign," he said. "But you don't understand the dangers"

For some children, passing the age limit is the gateway to an exciting world.

OnlyFans "touts itself as a platform that offers unparalleled access to influencers, celebrities and models," said Elly Hanson, clinical psychologist and researcher of sexual abuse and its impact. "This is an attractive mix for many teenagers, drawn into the world of sex, unprepared for the results."

Reuters found an additional 17 cases in which minors had accounts on OnlyFans but did not indicate that they had posted anything. In some cases, police files have made it clear that no child sexual content was posted; in others it is impossible to evaluate due to edits and limited information.

However, having an account by a minor on OnlyFans is a violation of company policy.
In one case in Florida, police found a 15-year-old girl's account in March 2023 after peers reported to school authorities that she was promoting phone conversations with other students.

The girl's father told police that she admitted to creating the account to "cheat men" and make money by posting nude photos of women taken from the Internet, pretending to be her, according to the police report.

The father said that he does not know how his daughter managed to create the account on "OnlyFans" and said that the company should keep children away from the site.

"A child can see the dollar sign," he said. "But you don't understand the risks."

"People love your video"

Some children create their own problems.

In April 2021, a 17-year-old boy walked into the Boston Police Department to report that a volunteer soccer coach, nearly twice his age, had been selling an explicit video to OnlyFans.

The boy was 15 but listed himself as 18 when he met coach Kharee Louis-Jeune on a dating app in 2019.

Louis-Jeune, of Brockton, Massachusetts, convinced the teenager to let him record oral sex in a Boston parking lot, insisting he would not share the video with anyone. Soon, the boy revealed his true age to Louis-Jeune. But the sexual relationship continued, for at least six months.

At the end of 2019, the boy discovered that the video was posted on "OnlyFans". He cut and dyed his hair, afraid that someone would recognize him, but the video soon started appearing in the high school. A peer asked me "if I was inhaling anything in the car", he said in the statement given to the justice authorities. "My heart was heavy and he showed me the video."

In March 2021, the boy met Louis-Jeune for the last time and told him that he did not want to touch him. He secretly took pictures of the license plates, if he needed them for the police report.
Two weeks later, Louis-Jeune wrote to the teenager: "People love your video." Then he sent him the page of "OnlyFans", where he was selling the video for 6 dollars.

That day the boy reported it to the police. Authorities used a search warrant to obtain the video from "OnlyFans." Part of the caption of the 36-second clip read: "Jamaican boy loves older men."

"After I found out about the video, I couldn't go out, afraid that someone would recognize my face."

Teenage victim

In June 2021, the police arrested Louis-Jeune. He initially denied that he knew the victim or that he had an account on "OnlyFans". But the police found the video on his phone.

Louis-Jeune, 36, pleaded guilty in December to charges of child rape, distribution of child sexual abuse material and possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to three to five years in prison.

His victim, now an adult, wants to move on with his life. "I want this to end, so I can pretend it didn't happen," he said in court.

Risky business

"OnlyFans" has been hit by accusations that it does not adequately protect children.

In 2021, the BBC detailed several cases of explicit videos on OnlyFans involving teenagers. In response, OnlyFans' parent company, Fenix, said it had closed the accounts. That same year, 102 Republican and Democratic members of the US House of Representatives asked the Department of Justice to investigate child sexual abuse on OnlyFans. 

Further reports of child abuse would put the website at risk. MasterCard, Visa and Discover have said they will take dramatic action when faced with allegations that their cards are paying for footage of child sexual abuse.

In 2020, card companies terminated their agreement with Pornhub, another +18 platform, after allegedly finding child abuse material and illegal content. It was a fatal blow, stopping card payments and forcing it to rely on advertising and discounts.

OnlyFans says it does not sell data or allow advertising. This leaves many dependent on Mastercard, Visa and Discover, the website only accepts transactions made with them. The card companies have said that they still do not accept payments from Pornhub. 

OnlyFans' income also depends on other social networks. The platform's search function does not allow users to search for content; they must know the creator's name. Therefore "OnlyFans" users often advertise the account on other sites to attract subscribers.
Half of the 30 police complaints about child exploitation on OnlyFans said that Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and other social networks played a role in promoting the content.
Platform X helped 25-year-old Wyatt Maxwell make thousands of dollars on OnlyFans before federal investigators discovered he was exploiting a boy.

Maxwell repeatedly filmed himself and the 16-year-old boy from Kansas having sex at Maxwell's home and at a local park in 2020 and 2021. He posted about 20 videos on “OnlyFans” and a smaller site “ JustFor.Fans,” $15 per month for subscribers.
To promote his content, Maxwwlli has used Twitter accounts. He was paid: Maxwell has told a federal investigator that he received between $3000 and $10.000 a month from OnlyFans. Prosecutors said he earned more than $49 from OnlyFans. 

In April, Maxwell was found guilty of attempted child pornography. He faces a minimum sentence of 15 years. 

A spokesperson for "JustFor.Fans" has said that the site was informed about Maxwell's account by the FBI in February 2021 and that it closed it immediately. "We take any activity involving minors extremely seriously," he added.

The boy's father said that the sexual exploitation was very harmful for his family. Companies have benefited from this, he said.

"A little disturbing"

After creators build audiences, they can promote and sell content through chat or direct messaging with subscribers. These messages are also moderated, according to Chief Executive Blair.

However, in one case the messages allowed one man to share with another 125 explicit videos and images, which included sexual relations with at least 13 children. The sharing of the files went undisclosed for at least seven months, along with the men's messages about them, before OnlyFans reported the case to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). There is no information in the documents about the origin of the materials shared by the two men.
Christopher Varney, 60, and Abel Esquivel, 35, of San Francisco, began exchanging messages on OnlyFans in August 2019.

Esquivel paid $5 a month for Varney's account, where he had footage of Varney performing oral sex with strangers in his home. The statement did not specify whether any were minors.

Esquivel "became interested in child pornography" during the pandemic, he told investigators. He said he used "OnlyFans" to talk to people with similar interests.

In September 2020, Varney began asking his subscriber, Esquivel, for content: “Do you have videos of young people?”. A few days later, Esquivel sent Varney eight videos that included boys between the ages of eight and 16 masturbating and performing other sexual acts. He sent her three more videos, showing a man sexually assaulting a young boy who was screaming in pain, according to records. In March 2021, Esquiceli sent videos and images of adults performing oral sex on children, including one who was 18 to 24 months old, according to the filing.

"This is a bit disturbing," Varney wrote after viewing the material.

When Esquivel apologized, Varney replied, “Ha-ha, it's okay. The scenes with the little ones just freak me out and some of them looked like they weren't exactly ready."

Esquiveli used messages on OnlyFans to discuss and share child sexual abuse material with Varney, according to police statements.

Esquivel had continued to send Varney child sexual abuse material, including content showing the boys tied up, according to a report from the San Francisco Police Department.

OnlyFans immediately reported the illegal material to NCMEC in May 2021, seven months after it was shared, leading to the arrest of Esquivel and Varney. 

Esquiveli pleaded guilty and was sentenced in June 2023 in San Francisco Superior Court to two years of probation and 13 days in jail. Varney was sentenced to 60 months probation in July 2023 and ordered to stay away from children. Possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material generally carries a lighter sentence than creating it.

"I understand it's illegal"

Online child sexual abuse is difficult to investigate and punish. Nearly a third of US police cases examined by Reuters were closed without an arrest. In some cases, investigators have not been able to identify the child shown on "OnlyFans". In others, they lacked evidence.
A young woman from Lakeland, Florida, has dismissed the complaint because she said she partly blames herself, not her adult partner, for a videotaped encounter posted on OnlyFans when she was 17, reports show. the data. Police have closed the case of another minor in Houston because, they say, she appeared to be willingly selling content on the site where she is seen with her boyfriend engaging in sexual acts.

Because of the blocking of OnlyFans, investigators have to rely heavily on witnesses who see child content and report it to parents or the police.

There was a witness who in December 2022 told the authorities that a 16-year-old girl from New York was part of a video on "OnlyFans". She has been missing for a week after leaving with a man in his 30s who she met at a grocery store.

Police soon identified the man as Matthew Richardson. A police officer found Richardson's account, where an FBI agent found the video of him with the minor girl.
The next day, on December 9, 2022, an Ohio police officer found the couple in a stolen car on the highway and arrested Richardson. When FBI agents asked Richardson if he was aware that having sex with a 16-year-old girl was against the law, he said, "I understand it's illegal," according to the federal affidavit.

Richardson, now 26, has pleaded not guilty to charges of producing and distributing child pornography.

OnlyFans says it constantly scans the website and may disable accounts that violate its rules. By mid-June, the video allegedly featuring the girl had been removed. But for $20 a month, people can still subscribe to Richardson's account.
"OnlyFans" has not commented on this matter.