Sony Fires Executive Allegedly Seen In Citizen Pedophile Sting

Sony has fired a senior PlayStation executive who allegedly appeared in a pedophile sting video organized by a citizen YouTube channel. Senior vice president of engineering George Cacioppo was quickly terminated from the company after allegedly appearing in the video organized by the YouTube channel People v. Preds.

"We are aware of the situation and the employee in question has been terminated from employment," Sony said in an emailed statement to CNET.

According to the video, a sting decoy claiming to be a 15-year-old boy met with Cacioppo through Grindr and exchanged pictures and discussed sex acts. Cacioppo allegedly said his name was "Jeff" and gave his address, where the sting took place. A cameraman confronted a man who appeared to be Cacioppo, and was wearing a PS5 shirt. The man walked back into the house and closed the door without answering. People v. Preds says it sent its evidence to the San Diego District Attorney.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Cacioppo had been a senior VP of engineering at Sony, working on the PlayStation Network, for the last eight years.