'Heinous': Trump admin hails charges for leaders of 764 child exploitation terror group
Nepal, aka “Trippy,” was arrested last week. He made his first appearance in a federal court in Greensboro, N.C., on Tuesday and is in jail awaiting transfer to the District of Columbia. Variagiannis, aka “War,” was arrested in Greece on Tuesday.
The complaint alleges that Nepal and Variagiannis operated an online group called “764 Inferno” that methodically targeted girls with mental health challenges, gained their trust to obtain intimate images, and then used the images to wage escalating campaigns of extortion. The abuse resulted in victims cutting abusers’ names into their bodies, setting themselves on fire, abusing pets, and even suicide, according to the government.
As evidence of Nepal’s centrality to 764, a sprawling, global network marked by extreme sadism, the government alleges that he has been involved since the group’s inception. Nepal emerged as a leader of 764 after its founder, Bradley Cadenhead, was arrested in Texas in August 2021, according to the government. Cadenhead is serving an 80-year sentence for possession with the intent to promote child pornography.
The Department of Justice press release announcing Nepal and Variagiannis’ arrests showcases quotes by FBI Director Kash Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Edward R. Martin Jr., the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, underscoring the Trump administration’s eagerness to publicize the campaign to take down the network.
Bondi proclaimed that the defendants “are accused of orchestrating one of the most heinous online child exploitation enterprises we have ever encountered — a network built on terror, abuse, and the deliberate targeting of children.”
Patel, who has made friendly overtures to the QAnon movement, a conspiracy theory centered on supposed child trafficking, highlighted the government’s allegation that Nepal and Variagiannis “created a guide for the disgusting online content they wanted.”
Martin, who has repeated QAnon slogans, declared that “the number of victims allegedly exploited” by the 764 defendants “and the depths of depravity are staggering.”
Jon Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, told Raw Story “the idea of saving children” holds “strong message value” for the Trump administration. Lewis noted that the Department of Justice’s interest in the case aligns with Bondi’s much-hyped release of investigative files in the case of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which proved to be a massive letdown for right-wing conspiracy theorists.
In contrast to QAnon, which posits that a “globalist” cabal of elites is trafficking children, the concern over the 764 network has the advantage of being grounded in fact, as evidenced by at least seven convictions obtained by authorities in the U.S. and U.K. since 2022.
“This is a really important set of arrests in the broader world of 764,” Lewis said. “As has been the case going back to the last administration, the rank and file of the FBI continue to show their work and show proof of their efforts to this growing threat of 764.”
Extremism researchers have been raising the alarm about 764 for about two years. Marc-André Argentino, a senior research fellow at the Accelerationist Research Consortium, described 764 in a recent briefing paper as representing “a modern hybrid threat, employing a calculated fusion of psychological manipulation, operational ruthlessness, and sophisticated communication strategies, making it both resilient and profoundly dangerous.”
The criminal complaint outlines a series of repugnant acts towards minor girls by Nepal, Variagiannis and their associates. In total, six minor victims are listed.
The government alleges that Nepal and Variagiannis orchestrated the abuse by exercising control over who was granted membership in the “764 Inferno” chat. “To be recruited to 764, or invited to the 764 Inferno [chat],” the complaint alleges, “defendants Nepal and Variagiannis required prospective members to produce and share content, which often included visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and self-harm.”
Nepal and Variagiannis, along with two co-conspirators — identified in the affidavit only by their nicknames “Fail” and “Slain” — allegedly created a “guide” to formalize instruction on creating “content.” According to the affidavit, the guide instructed recruits on “grooming” victims and recommended “targeting “particularly vulnerable victims, such as individuals with depression or mental illness” — commonly denigrated in extremist online spaces as “e-girls.”
A "guide" created by 764 and No Lives MatterCourtesy U.S. Department of Justice
In addition to child exploitation, members of 764 appear to be venturing into other forms of violence through an alliance with a like-minded nihilistic group called No Lives Matter.
In a briefing paper last November, Argentino flagged “Slain764,” one of the co-authors of the “guide” cited in the recent criminal complaint, while noting that in recent months, he had been accused of carrying out at least two knife attacks in Hässelby, Sweden, which he recorded “and posted … on Telegram to gain more status and promote the Swedish branch of No Lives Matter.”
Sveriges Television, the Swedish national broadcaster, reported on Wednesday that another 764 member named “Chai” was detained on suspicion of multiple crimes, including two alleged offenses linked to stabbings committed by "Slain."
Argentino also wrote about a member of the “764 Inferno” chat nicknamed “Neo” in a briefing paper based on leaked chat archives. The chats revealed that Nepal, posting as “Trippy,” wrote, “Tell him I’m gonna be giving 764 to y’all for good before I go again,” while specifying that he planned to hand off leadership to “Neo” and another member named “Skin.”
“Neo” was arrested in late February after sending an email threatening to carry out mass casualty attacks at four schools in the Valencia region of Spain. News reports about the arrest did not identify him by either his nickname or his real name. But a 764 chat reviewed by Raw Story shows members linking to a local news story about the arrest and responding with references to “Neo.”
One member said that “neo” was still in the voice chat “while he is feded,” meaning arrested.
“Did anyone catch his house being swatted?” asked another member.
