German prosecutors have charged a 21-year-old man from Hamburg with murder and hundreds of other offences, alleging he coerced a 13-year-old American boy into killing himself via livestream in 2022. The suspect, known online as “White Tiger”, is accused of being part of a wider abuse network called “764”.
Prosecutors announced 204 criminal charges against the German-Iranian man, including one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder as an “indirect perpetrator”. The charges relate to crimes committed between January 2021 and September 2023, when the suspect was aged 16 to 21.
According to authorities, “White Tiger” targeted vulnerable children in online chats and games, building trust before grooming them for abuse. He allegedly forced victims to produce sexual content and harm themselves on video. More than 30 children were victimised, with eight identified victims aged 11 to 15 from Germany, England, Canada and the US.
The case has raised concerns about whether German authorities could have intervened earlier. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the US reportedly alerted German police in 2021 about a Hamburg-based predator using the name “White Tiger”, providing chat transcripts from Discord. The suspect was questioned but not arrested until June 2024.
During the arrest, police seized illegal weapons including knives, brass knuckles and a baton, along with computers and hard drives still under analysis. The Hamburg public prosecutor’s office confirmed the trial will be held behind closed doors.
