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Associated Press

Roblox Sued for Alleged Role in Sextortion, Assault of 11-Year-Old

Lawsuit alleges gaming platform enabled predator's grooming, sextortion, and sexual abuse of Child: SGGH and Milberg law firms represent over 400 victims of sexual exploitation on Roblox and Discord A lawsuit filed today alleges Roblox Corporation, the popular online gaming platform, enabled the grooming, sextortion, and sexual assault of a 11-year-old child through its online gaming platform in around 2007. The Plaintiff, now an adult and former United States Marine, is sharing his story for the first time — alleging Roblox's failure to implement safety measures allowed an adult predator to target and abuse him in what attorneys call an 'egregious case of public importance.' Stinar Gould Grieco & Hensley, PLLC and Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, PLLC filed the complaint in The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in the Dallas Division. It alleges the perpetrator, posing as another child on Roblox, gained Plaintiff's trust through in-game messaging and exchanges of Robux, the platform's digital currency, which online predators frequently use to groom young users. Eventually, the perpetrator coerced Plaintiff into sharing explicit photos of himself in exchange for Robux. The user began threatening to publicly release the images unless Plaintiff paid him a sum of money or agreed to meet in-person. When Plaintiff arrived at the designated location nearby in Ennis, Texas, he discovered the individual was not a peer, but an adult man in his 30s. What followed was horrific molestation and sexual abuse of a child at the hands of the perpetrator — the effects of which Plaintiff continues to endure. The lawsuit alleges Roblox has refused to adopt reasonable safety features that could have prevented this abuse and others like it. These include age-gating, stricter content moderation, better identity verification, and stronger parental controls. 'There are simple, well-known steps Roblox could have taken to protect kids — but it chose not to,' said Martin D. Gould, Founding Partner of SGGH. 'This wasn't an accident. It was a business decision. And children like our client have paid the price.' Internal accounts from former employees reveal Roblox knowingly deprioritized child safety in favor of user growth. One former staffer described the company's approach succinctly: 'You can keep your players safe, but then there would be less of them on the platform. Or you just let them do what they want to do. And then the numbers all look good and investors will be happy.' 'When your own employees are acknowledging safety gets sacrificed for user growth, that's not just negligence — it's a systemic failure,' said Steven L. Vanderporten, Partner at SGGH. 'Our client's life was forever changed because of that failure, and Roblox must be held accountable.' Despite this knowledge, Roblox launched extensive marketing campaigns claiming their platform was safe. Roblox claimed 'safety is in our DNA' and promised 'cutting-edge technologies' to protect users, and assured parents of 'zero-tolerance' for endangering children all while claiming safety was 'at the core of everything we do.' The complaint alleges this follows a well-documented pattern the company was aware of but failed to prevent, despite having the technological means to do so. 'When a company tells parents 'safety is in our DNA,' yet knowingly fails to prevent harm it has the power to stop, that's not just negligence — it's a betrayal of trust,' said SGGH Founding Partner, Mike Grieco. 'This lawsuit exposes a pattern of deception: public promises of protection while internally ignoring clear dangers,' said Gary Klinger, Partner at Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, PLLC. 'Roblox had the tools to prevent this kind of abuse and chose not to use them.' The plaintiff seeks compensatory and punitive damages through ten counts including fraudulent misrepresentation, negligence, and strict liability claims. The lawsuit comes amid growing scrutiny of social media platforms' child safety practices and recent investigations revealing widespread exploitation on Roblox, including the discovery of hundreds of Roblox games themed around convicted criminals. The Plaintiff is represented by Martin D. Gould, Michael R. Grieco, and Steven L. Vanderporten of Stinar Gould Grieco & Hensley, PLLC, Gary Klinger, Melissa Nafash, Melinda Maxson, and Alexander Wolf of Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, PLLC. For media inquiries, contact Lynn Smith at [email protected] or Zoe Chipalla at [email protected]. About Stinar Gould Grieco & Hensley, PLLC Stinar Gould Grieco & Hensley (SGGH) is a boutique national personal injury firm dedicated to advocating for victims of abuse and catastrophic injuries in high-stakes litigation. We pride ourselves on being Innovators of Law and Providers of Justice. Our attorneys have litigated and won cases nationwide, representing thousands of individuals, including thousands of survivors of rape, sexual assault, and childhood sexual abuse in many of the highest profile abuse cases across the country. These cases include claims against private and public institutions such as University of Michigan (Dr. Robert Anderson), Michigan State University (Dr. Larry Nasser), Endeavor Health (Dr. Fabio Ortega), professional sports teams, private and public schools, elite private boarding schools, orphanages, foster care programs, hospitals, mental health facilities, Fortune 500 companies, wealthy individuals (Jeffrey Epstein), and numerous religious institutions and related entities. Recent successes include participating in global settlements valued at nearly $3 billion, with over $400 million recovered on behalf of survivors of sexual abuse and exploitation in the past 18 months. In addition to securing record recoveries, SGGH attorneys have also worked with clients to fought for and secure policy changes, helping protect future generations of children and adults from abuse and exploitation. For example, as part of a recent $21.3 million settlement in the hotel abuse case last year (one of the largest settlements in the country for an individual survivor), the firm also successfully secured policy and training changes for thousands of hotels improving hotel pre-employment screening and safety for hotel guests and employees nationwide. For more information, visit About Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, PLLC For over 50 years, Milberg and its affiliates have been fighting to protect victims' rights and have recovered over $50 billion for clients. A pioneer in class action litigation, Milberg is widely recognized as a leader in defending the rights of victims of corporate wrongdoing. Milberg is currently involved in some of the largest and most complex class action cases pending in the country and is particularly active in the field of Information Technology litigation. Over the past three years, Milberg has settled on a class-wide basis more than 50 class actions involving privacy violations in state and federal courts across the country as lead or co-lead counsel; no other plaintiffs' class action firm in the country has settled and won court approval of more data breach and data privacy class actions during this period. The firm has successfully brought forth cybersecurity-related claims against major corporations including Meta Platforms, Snap Inc. (Snapchat), Walmart, Bose, CVS, Facebook, Gannett Co., Advocate Aurora Health, Inc., Novant Health, Inc. and more — resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements. Milberg is equally committed to helping survivors of sexual abuse, assault, and exploitation seek justice. Milberg attorneys handle complex sexual abuse cases involving schools, juvenile detention facilities, religious institutions, healthcare providers, employers, and other entities that allowed abuse to occur. Milberg is actively representing sexual abuse victims in cases against Expedia Group Inc. and Securitas Security Services USA Inc., real estate moguls Tal and Oren Alexander, and the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan. More information about Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, PLLC can be found at Media Contact Lynn Smith [email protected] ### SOURCE: Stinar Gould Grieco & Hensley, PLLC Copyright 2025 EZ Newswire