Hamburg, Germany | January 9, 2026

A German juvenile court on Friday began hearing one of the most disturbing online exploitation cases to emerge in Europe in recent years, as prosecutors opened proceedings against a man accused of orchestrating a campaign of sadistic abuse that targeted vulnerable children across multiple countries. The defendant, known online by the alias “White Tiger”, is charged with dozens of grave crimes, including allegedly coercing a 13-year-old transgender youth in the United States to die by suicide while livestreaming the act.

The accused, a 21-year-old German-Iranian national from Hamburg, has been identified only as Shahriar J., in keeping with Germany’s strict privacy laws. Because many of the alleged offences were committed when he was a minor, the case is being tried in a juvenile court and the proceedings are being held behind closed doors.

The trial has cast renewed light on a shadowy ecosystem of online predators who exploit chat platforms, gaming forums, and social media spaces to groom, manipulate, and psychologically break children. Investigators say the case is linked to an international extremist child exploitation network known as “764”, which has been described by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation as a nihilistic and violent online enterprise dedicated to coercion, humiliation, and destruction.

At the centre of the prosecution’s case is the death of a 13-year-old transgender teenager from near Seattle, Washington. According to prosecutors, Shahriar J. used threats, psychological pressure, and blackmail to push the child into taking their own life in January 2022. The teenager reportedly died by hanging in a parking lot while broadcasting the act live online, allegedly at the encouragement of “White Tiger”.

German authorities say this was not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of abuse. Prosecutors allege that Shahriar J. targeted more than 30 children in hundreds of instances from January 2021 onwards. Many of the victims were between 11 and 15 years old and lived in different countries, including Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.

Investigators say the accused operated largely from his parents’ home in a wealthy Hamburg suburb, where he was a student at the time. Using the pseudonym “White Tiger”, he is alleged to have embedded himself in online communities frequented by young people, particularly those who were emotionally vulnerable, questioning their identity, or struggling with mental health issues.

According to the indictment, Shahriar J. would initially establish trust by offering friendship, understanding, or emotional support. Once a bond had been formed, prosecutors say he began grooming his victims, encouraging them to share intimate images or videos. These materials were then allegedly used to blackmail and control the children, forcing them to comply with escalating demands that included self-harm, degradation, and, in some cases, attempts to end their lives.

The online group to which “White Tiger” allegedly belonged, known as “764”, has been under increasing scrutiny from law enforcement agencies worldwide. The network is named after a Texas zip code linked to its founder, a teenager who was arrested and jailed in 2023. Media investigations have described the group as a forum where members shared graphic “gore” content, child sexual abuse material, and strategies for manipulating victims.

The FBI has characterised “764” as an international child exploitation enterprise and a network of violent extremists operating primarily in digital spaces. Several arrests linked to the group have already been made in the United States and elsewhere, but authorities warn that its decentralised and anonymous nature makes it difficult to dismantle entirely.

German prosecutors have levelled 204 criminal charges against Shahriar J., including one count of murder and five counts of attempted murder. The scale of the charges reflects what investigators describe as a sustained and methodical pattern of abuse rather than sporadic offending.

The suspect was arrested on June 17, 2025, during a police raid on his parents’ home in Hamburg. He has been held in pre-trial detention since then. At the time of his arrest, authorities said they had identified at least eight victims across four countries, though that number has since grown as investigators continued to analyse seized data.

The case has also triggered sharp criticism of German law enforcement and raised questions about whether earlier intervention could have prevented further harm. Media reports indicate that warning signs were present years before Shahriar J.’s arrest.

According to the weekly newspaper Die Zeit, the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children alerted German authorities as early as 2021 about a Hamburg-based online predator using the alias “White Tiger”. Police reportedly questioned the suspect at the time, and he admitted to possessing pornographic material involving minors. However, the case was ultimately dropped.

An FBI investigator later told Der Spiegel that he had shared the identity of “White Tiger” with German law enforcement in February 2023, more than two years before the eventual arrest. Despite these alerts, decisive action came only in mid-2025.

Hamburg authorities have defended the timeline, citing the complexity of the investigation. Officials said the delay was partly due to the vast volume of digital data seized from the suspect and the fact that most victims and other alleged perpetrators lived abroad and often concealed their identities online.

“The evaluation of a large number of data storage devices is extremely time-consuming,” the city-state of Hamburg said in a statement, adding that international cooperation and anonymised online behaviour posed significant investigative challenges.

The trial is expected to be lengthy. The Hamburg regional court has scheduled an initial 82 days of hearings, running until December 17, 2026. Given the sensitive nature of the evidence and the age of the victims, the proceedings will remain closed to the public.

Beyond the courtroom, the case has reignited debate across Europe and beyond about online safety, platform accountability, and the adequacy of existing child protection mechanisms. Experts warn that highly organised online abuse networks are increasingly exploiting encrypted platforms and gaming spaces, often staying several steps ahead of regulators and law enforcement.

Child protection advocates argue that the “White Tiger” case underscores the urgent need for earlier intervention, better international coordination, and stronger monitoring of online environments frequented by children. For many, the trial is not only about holding one individual accountable, but about confronting a broader digital threat that continues to evolve in the shadows.