CNN fires senior producer who allegedly gave mother money to rape her 9-year-old girl

[announced]

STAMFORD, Conn. (TND) — CNN fired senior producer John Griffin shortly after he was arrested by the FBI and charged with federal child sex crimes.

The 44-year-old man from Connecticut worked for CNN for about eight years, according to the cable news company.

Griffin faces three counts of "using a facility of interstate commerce to attempt to entice minors to engage in unlawful sexual activity" according to the United States Department of Justice in a release. He was arrested on these charges Dec. 10.

The allegations are deeply disturbing, and our office is committed to working with our partners at the United States Attorney's Office District of Vermont to ensure Mr. Griffin is held accountable for his actions," said the FBI in a statement. "The FBI, along with our law enforcement partners, will continue to aggressively investigate those who victimize the most vulnerable in our communities.

According to his indictment, Griffin used messaging apps "Kik" and "Google Hangouts" to chat with parents of minor daughters. He would allegedly attempt to persuade those parents to allow him to "train" their daughters to be "sexually submissive", the DOJ release states.

Allegedly, during his conversations with these parents, Griffin said a “woman is a woman regardless of her age" and he also said women are inferior to men and should be sexually subservient.

DOJ documents say Griffin was in contact with a mother of two young daughters, one 9-years-old and the other 13-years-old. He told the mother it was her responsibility to make sure her eldest daughter was "trained properly", the DOJ says. Griffin allegedly gave money to the mother so she and her daughter could meet him. Once they met, the daughter engaged in "unlawful sexual activity", according to the DOJ's report.

Griffin later transferred over $3,000 to the mother for plane tickets so the mother and her 9-year-old daughter could fly from Nevada to Boston’s Logan airport," the DOJ reports. "The mother and child flew to Boston in July of 2020, where Griffin picked them up in his Tesla and drove them to his Ludlow house. At the house, the daughter was directed to engage in, and did engage in, unlawful sexual activity.
The indictment also alleges Griffin tried to persuade two other children to engage in sex with him via the internet. In one instance, Griffin proposed a “virtual training session” for a mother and her 14-year-old daughter in which he would direct them to strip off their clothes and touch each other, the DOJ says. In another instance, the DOJ says, Griffin proposed one mother and her 16-year-old daughter should take a “little mother-daughter trip” to his ski house where the three of them would engage in "sexual training."

Griffin's arrest and subsequent firing come just days after CNN fired anchor Chris Cuomo following an investigation into his actions aiding his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, when the then-governor was facing allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct. Griffin's LinkedIn profile claims he worked "shoulder-to-shoulder with lead anchor Chris Cuomo." A photo on Griffin's Instagram account shows him and Cuomo chatting.

CNN initially suspended Griffin on the day he was arrested but released a statement Dec. 13 saying it decided to fire the longtime producer.

The charges against Mr. Griffin are deeply disturbing. We learned of his arrest Friday afternoon and terminated his employment Monday," CNN said in its statement, according to Inside Edition.
The DOJ says each count Griffin faces carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years imprisonment with a possible maximum of a life sentence if he's convicted.

"The indictment includes a notice that states the federal government intends to seek the forfeiture of Griffin’s Ludlow house, his Tesla, a Mercedes, and other property that was used in the commission of the charged offenses," the DOJ says in the release.

Source: https://komonews.com/news/nation-wor...cticut-vermont

Very sad day for CNN.
Also it looks like that producer worked closely with Chris Cuomo.

[Machismo]

Source: https://komonews.com/news/nation-wor...cticut-vermont

Very sad day for CNN.
Also it looks like that producer worked closely with Chris Cuomo.

Glad to see CNN having integrity, and firing their shitty employees, instead of keeping them on and protecting them at all costs.

[Daedius]

The fuck???

[Kronik85]

Quick guys let's circle the wagons because this guy is on team blue!......is something nobody is going to say. Sorry OP.

[Ihavewaffles]

They should just stop their disgusting channel of pedos, n warmongers

[Egomaniac]

Guy sounds like a real piece of shit.

However, isn't it interesting that the usual "innocent until proven guilty" crowd only seem to care about that when the accused shares their political alignment.

[Adamas102]

Guy sounds like a real piece of shit.

However, isn't it interesting that the usual "innocent until proven guilty" crowd only seem to care about that when the accused shares their political alignment.

Well it’s news to no one that the majority of that crowd is a bunch of gutless hypocrites.

[Edge-]

Cool, fuck that loser. He's in custody now and hopefully put away for a very, very, very long time.

Weird seeing folks try to weaponize this awful event to go after folks/companies they don't like, but hey, I guess a child getting raped is the perfect soapbox or something.

[rayvio]

if he's guilty then I hope that he and all the other adults involved are never again allowed anywhere near children. preferably never allowed outside of a prison

[Yadryonych]

Weird seeing folks try to weaponize this awful event to go after folks/companies they don't like

So true, many such cases in actiblizzard thread

[Edge-]

So true, many such cases in actiblizzard thread

Thanks for proving my point, dude. Keep it real.

[Easo]

At some point it is amazing in a fucked up way how far some "people" can go.

[Egomaniac]

Well it’s news to no one that the majority of that crowd is a bunch of gutless hypocrites.

Yeah, it's just funny to me that the only thing it seems the left and the right can agree on is to condemn someone on the left when they do something horrible.

If this were a fox news producer...we'd already have people coming in like "Well, keep in mind that not all accusations are true" like they did with Roy Moore

[cubby]

Source: https://komonews.com/news/nation-wor...cticut-vermont

Very sad day for CNN.
Also it looks like that producer worked closely with Chris Cuomo.

Glad to see at least some news organizations have integrity. Thanks for posting this, @announced - good to see some places still believe actions have consequences.

[Zan15]

Source: https://komonews.com/news/nation-wor...cticut-vermont

Very sad day for CNN.
Also it looks like that producer worked closely with Chris Cuomo.

Producers of shows usually work very close with the talent on the show. I know, shocking right?

Good for CNN for getting rid of this person as fast as they did.

Instead of settling for hundreds of millions of dollars and including massive NDA's to protect the guilty parties like Fox News did over and over again. All on top of still paying massive amounts of money to the accused and guilty even when they are finally fired/let go/not re-signed.

[cubby]

Producers of shows usually work very close with the talent on the show. I know, shocking right?

Good for CNN for getting rid of this person as fast as they did.

Instead of settling for hundreds of millions of dollars and including massive NDA's to protect the guilty parties like Fox News did over and over again. All on top of still paying massive amounts of money to the accused and guilty even when they are finally fired/let go/not re-signed.

Could not agree more. And most people don't know how closely producers, especially the Senior Producer, works with the onscreen talent, as you pointed out. CNN handled this very well. Lol re Fox News.

[s_bushido]

Yep, that's pretty heinous.

Nope, no one is going to defend anyone involved in this.

I hope you weren't expecting a different response. Because that would be highly unintelligent.

[Azadina]

It's cases such as this, that made me question the wisdom of no death penalty, and eventually led me to change my mind in favor of it being used in the rare cases it's needed for.

[s_bushido]

It's cases such as this, that made me question the wisdom of no death penalty, and eventually led me to change my mind in favor of it being used in the rare cases it's needed for.

Yeah...no. Death penalty accomplishes literally nothing but a meaningless sense of vengeance.

[Santti]

It's cases such as this, that made me question the wisdom of no death penalty, and eventually led me to change my mind in favor of it being used in the rare cases it's needed for.

Are the innocents that are killed part of that equation? How about it costing more than locking them up for life? Being locked up away in a cell for the rest of your life feels like the worse option to me. Especially if we talk about American prisons.