Man charged with creating deepfake images has warrant issued for his arrest
The man has been fined for contempt after refusing to remove intimate deepfake images of Australian public figures that he had posted online.
He was arrested in a Gold Coast apartment over obscene images alleged to be deepfakes, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Anthony Rotondo, also known as Antonio, was given a notice to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court for nine charges of obscene publications and exhibitions. Each charge alleges that he “knowingly and without lawful justification or excuse publicly distributed an obscene computer-generated image.”
Rotondo was arrested about two weeks ago for offences that were allegedly committed the day before his arrest in October. The arrest took place after detectives received a complaint that a Brisbane school had been sent an email that included deepfake images of students and teachers.
Similar incidents were uncovered at other facilities and businesses in Queensland’s southeast.
Rotondo is facing 18 charges in Southport Magistrates Court. Additionally, he has been fined for contempt after refusing to remove the digital manipulations.
He was ordered by a court to remove the images and not share them, but instead emailed them to 50 addresses, including those of the eSafety Commissioner and media outlets.
The commissioner started Federal Court proceedings after police found Rotondo had traveled from the Philippines to the Gold Coast, and he admitted the contempt after being taken into custody.
Justice Roger Derrington ordered Rotondo to pay $25,000 and the commissioner’s costs, and the Federal Court proceedings have been stayed until a case management hearing on May 13.
Magistrate Julian Noud ordered Rotondo be arrested and brought to Brisbane Magistrates Court after he failed to appear on new charges on Feb. 15, and the Southport court charges are due to be mentioned on March 21.
