‘The allegations in this case are not only disturbing, they are also every parent’s nightmare,’ U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. said.
Two leaders of a child exploitation network known as 764 have been arrested, federal officials announced on Wednesday.
Prasan Nepal, 20, of High Point, North Carolina, was arrested on April 22 in North Carolina. Leonidas Varagiannis, 21, was arrested on April 29 in Greece on an international warrant.
Both defendants face charges of operating an international child exploitation enterprise, marking a major takedown of an operation that targets innocent children, according to FBI Director Kash Patel.
“This is a significant case in our renewed mission to crack down on child sexual exploitation and abuse—heinous crimes that no child or parent should ever be faced with,” Patel said on Wednesday in a statement on social media platform X.
NEW: Working with @TheJusticeDept @AGPamBondi, I can now report the FBI and our partners have arrested two individuals on charges of operating an international child exploitation enterprise.
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) April 30, 2025
This is a significant case in our renewed mission to crack down on child sexual…
The defendants allegedly recruited others to exploit children and coordinated the operation through encrypted messaging apps.
Varagiannis has denied the allegations. He appeared in court on Wednesday before an appellate prosecutor and opposed extradition, according to Greek judicial authorities and his lawyer.
“Throughout the period during which the alleged offenses took place, he was residing in Greece. Therefore, Greek law and courts have jurisdiction over the case, and his extradition is explicitly prohibited,” his lawyer Xanthippi Moysidou said.
Nepal is currently in the Guilford County, North Carolina, jail on a federal hold and has a public defender.
Federal prosecutors allege the two men targeted children as young as 13 years old from late 2020 through early 2025 across multiple jurisdictions through the 764 criminal enterprise.
764 is a network of online groups that “methodically target and exploit minors and other vulnerable individuals,” according to a public service announcement posted by the FBI on March 6.
“These networks use threats, blackmail, and manipulation to coerce or extort victims into producing, sharing, or live-streaming acts of self-harm, animal cruelty, sexually explicit acts, and/or suicide,” the FBI said.
The material is used as leverage to force victims to perform acts of violence and even self-harm. The network also engages in swatting and harassment to silence its victims.
