Virginia Man Charged for “Ringleader” Role in Global Monkey Torture Network
The alleged criminal is accused of making sadistic videos of monkeys being tortured and killed for paying customers around the world.
The torture videos typically used baby long-tailed macaques.
Warning: this story contains upsetting and disturbing details of monkeys being tortured.
A US man known as the “Torture King” has been charged for his role in producing sadistic videos of monkeys being tortured and killed.
The global network dedicated to the torture of monkeys was originally exposed after a year-long undercover investigation by the BBC’s World Service last year.
Now, authorities have announced that Michael Macartney, a fifty-year-old living in Virginia, has been charged with conspiracy to create and distribute animal-crushing videos.
As part of the video network that Macartney helped lead, hundreds of customers around the world were found to be paying Indonesians to torture and kill long-tailed macaques on film.
The videos initially established a following on YouTube, and then moved to private groups on the messaging platform Telegram.
According to the BBC’s undercover investigators, hundreds of followers take part in the private Telegram torture groups, where they discuss and devise ideas on how to torture monkeys. Mr Macartney is said to have directed several of these chat groups.
Once a torture idea was commissioned, torturers in Indonesia or other Asian countries then carried out the scene on film, and sold the video to paying customers. In charging documents, Mr Macartney is accused of collecting funds in connection with these torture videos.
The resulting graphic videos are incredibly distressing and disturbing. “It was extreme depravity”, Joel Gunter, an investigative reporter with the BBC team behind the initial investigation, told CBS. “We saw a video of a baby monkey being put into a blender, videos with power tools used on monkeys. It was torture like you can't imagine”.
Mr Macartney has reportedly already agreed to plead guilty to the conspiracy charges. He is now the third US citizen to be charged for their role in the global monkey torture network, following the earlier charges against David Christopher Noble and Nicole Devilbiss. The trio now face up to five years in prison.
And the network’s global reach has also resulted in international action too. Two torturers have been arrested in Indonesia, while two women in the UK were charged last month with publishing an obscene article and causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.
It is understood that more charges could follow soon, as US officials reported that at least 20 people in the US alone are under investigation in relation to the network.
Special Agent Paul Wolpert, who has been leading the investigation by the US Department of Homeland Security, previously told the BBC that anybody involved in buying or distributing the monkey torture videos should "expect a knock on the door at some point - you are not going to get away with it."
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