Add The New York Post on Google Two alleged creeps were busted Wednesday for posting thousands of pornographic AI “deepfake” images and videos of celebrity entertainers and political figures – which have been viewed millions of times.
Cornelius Shannon, 51, of New Jersey, and Texas resident Arturo Hernandez, 20, each face up to two years in prison after being charged by Brooklyn federal prosecutors with breaching the TAKE IT DOWN Act, which bars people from publishing AI porn depicting someone without getting their consent.
Since May 2025, Shannon has published deepfake porn featuring 90 different female victims – including well-known “political figures” and “entertainment figures” – appearing to engage in sexual acts on a porn website where they have been viewed more than 2.1 million times, court papers allege.
Cornelius Shannon, 51, and Arturo Hernandez, 20, were arrested after posting thousands of pornographic AI “deepfake” images and videos of celebrity entertainers and political figures. tete_escape – stock.adobe.com Hernandez has posted sick AI-created pornos of 50 different female victims – including prominent politicians, musicians, and actresses – on that website during the same time period, prosecutors say.
The Texan also disgustingly posted AI porn of his female classmates, purported friends, and a “religious mother and daughter,” court papers allege.
He also created and posted a photo album featuring “yearbook-style” portraits of girls in his high school graduation class wearing their graduation cap and gowns, “which morph into videos depicting the likenesses of the same girls engaging in sexually explicit conduct,” a criminal complaint says.
Together, Hernandez’s AI deepfake videos and images have been viewed more than 940,000 times, court papers say.
The alleged creeps face up to two years in prison for violating the TAKE IT DOWN Act, which bars people from publishing AI porn depicting someone without getting their consent. Gregory P. Mango for NY Post The New Jerseyan Shannon – whose profile picture on the unidentified porn site features him wearing a New York Mets t-shirt and having a snack – was arrested Wednesday morning in the Garden State by FBI agents in the Newark field office. He was expected to be released after making his first appearance in Brooklyn federal court Wednesday afternoon.
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Hernandez was arrested in Bedias, Texas by FBI agents in the Houston field office, and is due to face a Brooklyn judge at a later date.
Prosecutors kept the names of the celebrities depicted in the porn under wraps Wednesday.
“This case makes clear that posting deepfake pornography is not a victimless crime, and our Office will pursue the criminals who engage in this reprehensible conduct with all the legal resources that the federal government can bring to bear, including new authorities granted by Congress to address these emerging forms of psychological, reputational, and financial abuse,” Joseph Nocella, US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.
