PlayStation executive fired after pedophilia allegations
George Cacioppo, Sony's Senior Vice President of the PlayStation Network since 2013, has been fired after allegedly being featured in a video by the vigilante, pedophile sting operation group People v. Preds. A member of the channel had been posing as a 15-year old on grindr and received nude photos from "Jeff", alleged to be Cacioppo by the group, and arranged to meet for sex. In the video, a member of the group approaches a home and addresses the man standing in the doorway, wearing a PS5 t-shirt, as Jeff, and admonishes him for arranging to meet up with an underage person for sex. "Jeff" quickly closes the door and refuses to engage, even as the man threatens to phone the police.
In the description for the video, there is a Google Drive link to screenshots of the alleged chat logs between "Jeff" and the operators of the People v. Preds account. The screenshots show two different conversations, one on October 10, 2021, which did not result in a meetup, and one on December 3, 2021, the day the video was posted and appears to end with them arranging a meetup. In the chat logs, "Jeff" exchanges many pictures with the minor, and in one selfie is seen wearing the same PS5 t-shirt as in the video. He is also aware he is speaking to a minor and provides his address so they can meet up.
In a statement to Cnet, a Sony spokesperson confirmed that Cacioppo had been fired. "We are aware of the situation and the employee in question has been terminated from employment," reads the statement sent to Cnet. Also, in a correspondence with Kotaku, the People v. Preds account claims they released this information publicly rather than simply handing it over to police because "the police department doesn’t work with ‘Cyber groups’ like us. That’s when the internet takes over.” However, since then, the "evidence has been turned into the authorities." There is no news yet of legal action being taken as a result of the sting.
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