12-Year-Old Sexually Abused, Blackmailed Through Roblox: 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
EDMOND, OKLAHOMA – September 2, 2025 – A new lawsuit claims Roblox has spiraled into what the Federal Bureau of Investigation calls a “global crisis” — alleging a 12-year-old girl was groomed, sexually extorted, and exploited 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 Oklahoma. It alleges the tech giants designed and promoted dangerous platforms while falsely marketing them as safe for children.
That’s why Plaintiff’s mother – a special education teacher – believed it was appropriate for her daughter to join. Instead, in 2020, that trust was shattered when a predator posing as a minor gained direct access to Plaintiff, grooming, manipulating, and extracting personal information from her, including her phone number.
The lawsuit describes how the predator posed as a 15-year-old boy and used Robux, Roblox’s in game currency, to coerce Plaintiff into sending sexually explicit photos and videos. Once he obtained this material, the lawsuit alleges the abuse escalated into violent extortion — threatening to kill her family if she refused to comply. To deepen the terror and guarantee her silence, the lawsuit alleges he proved he knew her address and that she had a younger brother.
When Plaintiff’s mother discovered the abuse, she reported it to law enforcement. Authorities confirmed the predator was a known offender with a history of inappropriate behavior.
“Our client was terrorized into believing her family’s lives were in danger,” said GGH Founding Partner, Martin D. Gould. “The trauma she carries is profound, and it never should have been allowed to happen on a children’s platform.”
The FBI and law enforcement agencies have identified this form of online child sexual exploitation — known as sextortion — as a growing global crisis disproportionately targeting minors. In 2024, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received 54,936 reports of extortion, which includes cases of sextortion. That’s a 59% increase from 2023. Authorities
warn that victims often suffer severe emotional trauma, with many cases leading to self-harm and even suicide.
“The FBI has made clear this is not an isolated issue — it’s a global crisis,” said Steven L. Vanderporten, Partner at GGH. “Our client’s story reflects the devastating reality behind those numbers: children are being targeted, traumatized, and in too many cases, driven to the brink. Roblox cannot continue to ignore the role its platform plays in this epidemic.”
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.
“Roblox has built a billion-dollar empire on the backs of children,” said Mike Grieco, GGH Founding Partner. “Our case is not only about justice for our client, but about forcing Roblox to answer for systemic failures that have destroyed countless young lives.”
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.”
“Roblox’s own insiders confirm what critics of the tech platform have long feared — child safety was treated as a liability, not a priority,” said Gary Klinger, Partner at Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, PLLC. “The company chose growth and investor satisfaction over protecting children, and our client is living proof of the devastating consequences of that decision.”
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.
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 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