The_Info_Web/20 - ORGANIZATIONS/Greggy's Cult.md

category	tags	start	end	location	created	updated	summary
Extremism & Violent Networks	GreggyCult ChildExploitation NVE Online USA	2020	2021	Online (United States)	2026-05-21	2026-10-09	Greggy's Cult was an online child exploitation network that operated on Discord from January 2020 to January 2021, using blackmail and CSAM coercion methods that directly informed the founding of 764.

Greggy's Cult (also called the "Cult of Greg") was an online child exploitation network that operated primarily on Discord and gaming platforms from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. It recruited minor victims through gaming servers and social media, coerced them into producing CSAM (child sexual abuse material) through blackmail and psychological manipulation, and demanded ongoing self-harm through the same coercive mechanisms. These methods became the operational template for the 764 Network, which emerged in late 2020 and early 2021. NCITE (National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center at the University of Nebraska Omaha) reports that 31 individuals had been publicly charged with federal crimes related to 764 and its precursor groups CVLT and Greggy's Cult, and that as of December 20, 2025 thirty-three individuals had been publicly charged in the United States in total. It treats the three groups as a connected prosecutorial and organizational lineage.¹²³

764 Founding Lineage

Bradley Chance Cadenhead, who founded 764 as a 15-year-old in Stephenville, Texas, was connected to Greggy's Cult before building 764. The operational model Cadenhead established for 764 - recruitment through gaming platforms, CSAM coercion, blackmail, demands for self-harm - directly mirrored Greggy's Cult's methods. Law enforcement and researchers describe Greggy's Cult as one of the "predecessor groups" that "helped spawn" 764, alongside CVLT. NCITE states that Cadenhead had previously interacted with members of the precursor groups CVLT and Greggy's Cult, and that his practices for 764, which he founded in January 2021, drew heavily on the tactics of both groups.²

Rumaldo Valdez, a U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class stationed in Wahiawa, Hawaii, was a documented Greggy's Cult member. His devices contained CSAM described in federal sentencing documents as among "the most extreme child-abuse images in existence." Valdez was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison in March 2026 and faces additional charges in the Eastern District of New York, where the indictment (1:25-cr-00361) names six defendants: Valdez, Camden Rodriguez, Zachary Dosch, David Brilhante, Hector Bermudez and Austin Yatco, also known as "Hairy Lips." The docket's count list places Yatco as defendant six in Counts One through Eight. An order of January 23, 2026 granted an amended arrest warrant as to Yatco, and an order of February 27, 2026 unsealed the indictment and arrest warrant as to him.⁴⁵

Federal Charges Across the Three Networks

The indictment filed November 18, 2025 charges six individuals; the Department of Justice's December 2, 2025 release describes the five defendants it names as leaders of Greggy's Cult.⁶⁷ The indictment states that the enterprise "operated in or about and between 2019 and 2021," and its counts charge conduct from January 2020 through January 2021.⁶

NCITE reports that 157 federal charges related to 20 criminal offenses had been filed against 764, CVLT and Greggy's Cult defendants, and that 100 percent of the CVLT and Greggy's Cult defendants were charged under 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g), the child exploitation enterprise statute.³ The report states that every defendant who received that charge across the three groups was identified as a leader or administrator.² NCITE states that all federal indictments of CVLT and Greggy's Cult defendants occurred between January and December 2025, although their primary activity occurred between 2019 and 2021.²³ As of December 20, 2025, NCITE counted four federally charged defendants as sentenced, all of them 764 members.²

NCITE states that the court records identify a crossover in membership among 764, CVLT and Greggy's Cult, and that CVLT and Greggy's Cult were among the earliest known networks to systematically target minors.²

Footnotes

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1. NCITE. "Prosecuting Nihilistic Violent Extremism: An Examination of Federal and State Charges Against 764 and Related Networks." University of Nebraska Omaha, December 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/764-landing-page.php ↩︎

2. NCITE, "Prosecuting 764: An Examination of Federal and State Charges," University of Nebraska Omaha, December 2025, report text (structure and ideology; federal charges sections), data as of December 20, 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/img/prosecuting-nve-report.pdf ↩︎

3. NCITE, "Prosecuting 764: An Examination of Federal and State Charges," landing page, December 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/764-landing-page.php ↩︎

4. ABC News. "DOJ charges former Navy petty officer, 4 others in child exploitation case." https://abcnews.com/US/doj-charges-former-navy-petty-officer-4-alleged/story?id=128072704 ↩︎

5. United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), CourtListener docket 71984626, entry 1 (count list), January 23, 2026 order for amended arrest warrant, and order to unseal, ECF 71, February 27, 2026. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538957/gov.uscourts.nyed.538957.71.0.pdf ↩︎

6. Indictment, United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), ECF 8, introduction paragraph 1 and Count One. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.8.0_1.pdf ↩︎

7. DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." Press release 25-1131, December 2, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet ↩︎