The Motion Picture Association of America’s executive vice president was reportedly fired Monday, following his arrest on rape and blackmail charges.
Variety reports that detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington D.C. arrested Steven Fabrizio on Friday and charged him with second-degree sexual abuse and blackmail.
Following his arrest, MPAA Chairman and CEO, Charles Rivkin, announced that Fabrizio had been fired for “for violating certain terms of employment.”
According to police, Fabrizio is accused of using a “sugar daddy” site online to find women, one if which he threatened and blackmailed. The suspect allegedly had consensual sex with a woman he met on the site, then later paid her $400 to have sex again.
A police affidavit reportedly indicated that the woman didn’t want to see Fabrizio anymore after the second encounter, but he threatened to expose her unless she agreed to meet up with him again.
“I know where you live,” Fabrizio allegedly wrote in a text message to the victim. “I know where you work. Don’t think — Hospital would be happy to know that it’s young nurses are having sexual for money / Same for your landlord.”
The victim apparently met up with Fabrizio once more, fearing that he would go through with what he threatened, according to police. Afterward, the threats continued. Fabrizio allegedly threatened to tell the woman’s parents if she didn’t continue to see him. The victim then called authorities.
The victim arranged another meeting with Fabrizio at apartment and when he arrived, police arrested him.
“These charges, if true, are both shocking and intolerable to the Association,” an MPAA spokesman said in a statement, according to The Los Angeles Times. “We had no prior knowledge of this behavior before these charges were publicly filed.”
Based in Washington, D.C, MPAA is lobbying section of several film studios, including Netflix, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Co. Fabrizio joined MPAA in 2013 and served as both the general counsel and the senior executive vice president.
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