Two Florida law firms announced earlier today that they have filed a civil lawsuit against YouTubers James Jackson (Onision) and Lucas Jackson (Kai) on behalf of Regina Alonso. The lawsuit also names YouTube’s parent company, Google, and alleges that the platform participated in the grooming and exploitation of their client by Onision and Kai when Regina was a child.
“The Marsh Law Firm and The Haba Law Firm have jointly filed a federal lawsuit against YouTube, James Jackson (“Onision”), and Lucas Jackson (“Kai” or “Lainey”), on behalf of Regina Alonso,” the press release reads. “Onision and his spouse openly groomed and exploited Regina when she was a child.”
The Haba Law Firm partner Lisa Haba states in the release that “YouTube contributed to and profited from the enticement, grooming, and exploitation of children while promoting known predator and YouTube partner, Onision.”
More from the press release:
“Onision and Kai illustrate how unmonitored online predators get away with sex trafficking ventures. As a society, we cannot stand by and ignore the predators targeting our children from a few clicks away,” said Margaret Mabie, Partner at The Marsh Law Firm.
Despite numerous complaints about Onision, YouTube did nothing and continued to promote his deeply harmful online and offline behavior.
“YouTube could have prevented all of this harm, but it inexplicably racked up revenue and provided a sanctuary for Onision to lure, identify and recruit vulnerable children for grooming and ultimately, exploitation,” said Haba.
“We hope that Regina receives the justice she deserves and that this lawsuit will pave the way for other survivors to begin the healing process too.” Mabie said.
“This is yet another example of the Tech Giants facilitating and activating the sexual abuse of minors. This has to stop,” said Jennifer Freeman, senior counsel to The Marsh Law Firm.
Here are all of the counts alleged in the filing:
COUNT 1 (Defendants Onision and Lainey) – VIOLATION OF THE TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION REAUTHORIZATION ACT 18 U.S.C. §§ 1591(A)(1) AND 1595
COUNT II (All Defendants) – BENEFITING FROM A SEX TRAFFICKING VENTURE IN VIOLATION OF THE TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION REAUTHORIZATION ACT, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1591(a)(2) AND 1595
COUNT III (Defendant Lainey) – CIVIL REMEDIES FOR PERSONAL INJURIES RELATED TO POSSESSION AND DISTRIBUTION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY 18 U.S.C. §§ 2255 AND 2252A
COUNT IV (All Defendants) – CIVIL REMEDIES FOR PERSONAL INJURIES RELATED TO SEX TRAFFICKING 18 U.S.C. §§ 2255 AND 1591(a)
COUNT V (All Defendants) – CIVIL REMEDIES FOR PERSONAL INJURIES RELATED TO COERCION AND ENTICEMENT 18 U.S.C. §§ 2255 AND 2422
The lawsuit is seeking damages in “an amount to be determined at trial.”
The Haba Law Firm has the entire complaint available to download on their site. Below I will include excerpts that I hope will provide context for those who are unaware of the relationship between Onision, Lainey and Regina. I’ve left the numbers so that you can easily tell when sections have been omitted.
15. At his peak, Onision had over 2 million subscribers.
16. Onision targeted underage girls online and provided material that appealed to that age group, such as comments on body image, appearance, self-identity, suicide ideology, and similar topics. Onision would also rate and comment on pictures of people and their bodies, often sent to him by young teen girls.
17. Specifically, Onision appealed to minor females, like Plaintiff, who were young, vulnerable, questioning their self-image or identity, or were seeking answers and guidance.
18. YouTube’s product and non-neutral algorithm specifically targeted minors with these interests and suggested Onision’s harmful and controversial content to minor teen users.
29. Onision used his fame and platform to objectify children, to form relationships with underage girls, to entice them, groom them, and to arrange transportation across state lines and facilitate further grooming and sexual activity.
30. Onision began pursuing 17-year-old Taylor Anderson (“Lainey” or “Kai”), who went by the internet persona of “Laineybot.” Taylor legally changed her name several times and currently goes by the legal name, Lucas Jackson.
31. In November of 2012, Lainey and Onision got married.
32. After Onision introduced Lainey to his followers, Lainey instantly became a part of the Onision channel and gained fame through her marriage.
33. Lainey began flirting with and grooming underage girls that were fans of Onision through the YouTube platform, including but not limited to the Onision channels and forums.
34. Those same girls were then invited to Lainey and Onision’s home with the intent to engage in sexual acts and three-way sexual encounters with the couple, or for additional grooming to achieve the ultimate goal of sexual conquest by Lainey and/or Onision.
35. YouTube was put on notice many times that Onision was violating the YouTube Terms of Service and Community Guidelines, but YouTube took no action to deter or demonetize Onision based on the numerous complaints or violative content he posted.
37. YouTube continued to allow their partner, Onision, to post his content, which in turn recruited, lured and enticed Regina to reach out to Lainey through the Onision forums.
38. Regina came to know who Lainey was by watching the Onision channels and saw her as a celebrity because she was married to Onision.
39. Lainey later befriended Regina online.
168. Upon information and belief, Onision encouraged and enticed Lainey to enter into a relationship with another girl.
169. Onision and Lainey began publicly talking on YouTube about having a polyamorous relationship with other girls.
170. Although it was presented to the world as an opportunity for Lainey to be with a woman, in reality, this was done so that Onision could engage in threesome sex acts with other girls and used Lainey as the bait to lure them in.
171. Onision demanded a threesome and stated that he will not allow Lainey to have sex with a girl unless he participates.
172. Despite being married and an adult, Lainey began dating underage Regina.
173. Regina had just turned 17-years-old only eight days before the “dating” announcement:
174. During this “relationship,” Lainey groomed underage Regina with flirtatious and suggestive comments, such as “I love you,” sexual commentary, and sent nude photos. Some examples of such communications were as follows:
175. Lainey also sent Regina “thirst traps,” which is an internet phrase for lewd photos depicting Lainey in her bra and underwear, or a low cut shirt, and were supposed to leave the viewer “thirsty for more” due to the sexual inuendo contained in the photo(s).
176. Lainey frequently requested that Regina send the same nude and “thirst trap” photos back.
177. Lainey and Regina frequently had Skype calls. On one such Skype call, Lainey appeared on camera topless. This was done as a grooming tactic to desensitize Regina to sexuality and test her boundaries.
178. In addition to the “thirst trap” images sent by Lainey to Regina, Lainey also requested photographs of Regina.
179. In response to Lainey’s demands, Regina sent an image of her exposed breasts to Lainey.
180. Separately, in response to Lainey’s demands, Regina sent an image of her exposed buttocks to Lainey.
181. Lainey discussed sexuality with her, to include sexual acts she wished to do with Regina, and expressed sexual and emotional desire for her.
182. In 2015, Lainey encouraged 17-year-old Regina to visit her and Onision together.
183. Lainey offered to pay all of Regina’s travel expenses for the trip.
184. Lainey intended to lure, entice, recruit, and solicit Regina to their home so that she could join in sexual activity with Regina and in threesome sexual acts with Onision and Lainey together.
185. Further, upon information and belief, Lainey intended to lure Regina to their home so that Regina could be given to Onision so that he could engage in sexual acts with Regina.
186. Regina, being young and naïve, desperately wanted to visit Lainey, but Regina’s mother would not let her travel.
208. When Lainey realized Regina could not visit them for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity, Regina was “replaced” with Sarah as their target.
209. Sarah was then invited to visit the couple and ultimately raped by Onision.
210. After Sarah moved in, word got out that a minor child had moved in with Onision and Lainey and many people on YouTube were not comfortable with this.
211. Many YouTuber’s that were also part of the YPP began to speak about Onision on their own YouTube channels and media began to surface that Onision and his spouse Kai (formerly Lainey) were predators.
212. This culminated in a documentary that was released on Discovery Plus that featured Regina, Sarah, and another ex-girlfriend of Onision named Shiloh.
213. It was only after the publication of this documentary that YouTube finally decided to demonetize Onision for violations of their policies on or about January 21, 2021.
214. YouTube stated to news outlet Tubefilter that “it took action because Onision violated the Partner Program’s Creator Responsibility guidelines. These mandate that partners not engage in behavior (either on- or off-platform) that can cause widespread harm to the YouTube community, and potentially damage the trust among creators, users, and advertisers.”
215. Notably, although YouTube took away Onision’s ability to make money, but did not remove him from the platform.
216. YouTube is still profiting from Onision’s content; it is simply not profit-sharing with him anymore.
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
