11-Year-Old Sexually Assaulted, Blackmailed Through Roblox, Discord: Woman Sues Gaming Giant
Lawsuit alleges Gaming Platform Enabled Predator’s Grooming, Sexual Extortion, and Abuse of Child: GGH and Milberg Law Firms represent over 800 victims of sexual exploitation on Roblox and Discord
DICKINSON COUNTY, MICHIGAN – September 2, 2025 – A new lawsuit claims Roblox and Discord has spiraled into every parent’s nightmare — alleging that an 11-year-old girl was sexually exploited, assaulted, and blackmailed by an adult predator she met through the popular gaming platforms.
Gould Grieco & Hensley, PLLC and Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, PLLC filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan. It alleges the tech giants designed and promoted dangerous platforms while falsely marketing them as safe for children.
Plaintiff – now an adult – was introduced to the predator while playing Roblox’s United States Military 1960s game in 2016. To fully access key features in the game, Plaintiff was required to engage through Discord, where the predator — posing as a 14-year-old boy — initiated inappropriate communications that escalated into sexual exploitation.
The predator allegedly sent explicit images to the child and pressured her to reciprocate. He then manipulated her into sneaking out of her home to meet him at a motel, where he revealed himself to be an adult. There, he sexually assaulted Plaintiff, photographing and filming the abuse. Then, he used the evidence of the assault to blackmail her into further encounters.
“Our client has suffered lasting trauma, fear, shame, and a profound loss of trust, safety, and innocence. No child should ever endure that,” said GGH Founding Partner, Martin Gould. “What makes this even more devastating is that it was preventable. Roblox and Discord knew predators were targeting children on their platforms but failed to act.”
The complaint emphasizes Plaintiff’s experience is not an isolated case, but part of a broader pattern of grooming and exploitation that has taken root on Roblox and Discord. The lawsuit argues this is the direct result of the platform’s refusal to implement basic safeguards — like age gating, stricter content moderation, stronger identity verification, and improved parental controls – despite knowing the risks to children on its platform.
“These aren’t radical ideas, they’re common-sense safeguards,” said Steven Vanderporten, GGH Partner. “The fact that these companies have chosen not to implement them, despite knowing the risks, shows a shocking disregard for children’s safety.”
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 have to make a decision, right? You can keep your players safe, but then it 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.”
“The fact that former employees admit Roblox put growth ahead of child safety is alarming. Protecting kids online should never be treated as a business trade-off, said Mike Grieco, Founding Partner at GGH. “When companies choose investor satisfaction over children’s safety, the results are devastating and unacceptable.”
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.
“Roblox can’t have it both ways,” said Gary Klinger, Partner at Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, PLLC. “They can’t market themselves to parents as the safest place for children while ignoring a pattern of abuse happening on their platform. The reality is that their public promises of ‘safety in our DNA’ were more about branding than about protecting kids.”
The plaintiff seeks compensatory and punitive damages through nine 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 Gould Grieco & Hensley, PLLC, Gary Klinger, Melissa Nafash, Melinda Maxson, and Alexander Wolf of Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, PLLC.
About Gould Grieco & Hensley, PLLC
Gould Grieco & Hensley (GGH) 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, GGH 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.
Firm website: www.GGHLaw.com.
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 fifty (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 on the firm’s website.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Zoe Chipalla
zchipalla@gghlaw.com