A 21-year-old from North Carolina who joined and helped establish 764 as an underage teenager and quickly emerged as the leader of the child sextortion group until his arrest last year pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday, the Justice Department said.
Prasan Nepal pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation of a child as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors and faces at least 15 years and up to 30 years in prison upon sentencing.
Nepal, also known as “Trippy,” ran the nihilistic violent extremist network for almost four years and played a crucial role facilitating the grooming, manipulation and extortion of minors.
Nepal and his alleged co-conspirator Leonidas Varagiannis, who was arrested in Greece last year, controlled membership in 764 and access to a subgroup of highly-involved members known as “764 Inferno,” according to court records.
The Justice Department describes 764 as a “network of nihilistic violent extremists who engage in criminal conduct in the United States and abroad, seeking to destroy civilized society through the corruption and exploitation of vulnerable populations, which often include minors.”
Members of 764 are affiliated with “The Com,” a global collective of loosely associated groups that commit financially motivated, sexual and violent crimes, according to threat researchers.