Manhattan prosecutors seize 12 AI deepfake websites with about 1,200 victims: what the record says, and what it does not

The same image-generation tools that produce a film still or a product mock-up can produce a sexual video of a real person who never consented to it. On 14 September 2026 a prosecutor in New York used a court order to take 12 websites built on exactly that off the internet. This article records what the office said, what reporters at the press conference added, and what nobody has yet said.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office release is dated 14 September 2026 and carries the subheading "Marks Largest Known Seizure of AI-Generated Celebrity Deepfake Websites To Date". It states that District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. announced "the Office's seizure of 12 domain names of illegal websites used for unlawfully disseminating, publishing, and selling non-consensual celebrity 'deepfake' videos".

The mechanism, as the release describes it: "Individuals under investigation allegedly used artificial-intelligence ('AI') image and video creation tools to turn pre-existing photos and videos of approximately 1,200 real people into what appear to be hyper-realistic images and videos of those individuals engaging in sexual conduct." The sites then "disseminate, publish, and sell these videos and other similar non-consensual intimate imagery". The release uses the abbreviation NCII for that category.

The seizure was carried out by the office's Cyber Crime Bureau "pursuant to a court order". The release does not name the statute the order was issued under.

The release says the approximately 1,200 victims "are overwhelmingly women and primarily public-facing individuals, including actors, politicians, athletes, musicians, social justice advocates, and social media influencers". It does not name any of them. Gothamist, reporting from the press conference, quotes the site names the office showed: "AI Celebs, All Deepfake and Deepfake Porn". The release itself does not list the domains.

Bragg's quoted statement in the release: "1,200 individuals had their faces and bodies stolen and turned into illegal pornography on 12 different websites – without their knowledge or consent – and today, my Office is announcing that we have seized these websites pursuant to a court order. These horrific violations of privacy follow victims into their careers and personal lives and take an immense toll on emotional and mental wellbeing." And: "my office does not tolerate sexual exploitation in any form and will not stand by when businesses profit from the publication and dissemination of non-consensual sexual images and videos, AI-generated or not."

Three details come from coverage of the press conference rather than the release. Gothamist reports that the seizures "stemmed from a single complaint" and that "No one has been charged." ABC7 quotes Bragg on the origin: "We would not be here if it wasn't for the courage of a survivor who came forward, reported to us that images of her were on the website, and that led to the seizure." 404 Media reports that Bragg "declined to answer whether images of minors were included in these websites, saying, 'The investigation is ongoing.'"

404 Media also places the action in a sequence: it recalls that the US Departments of Justice and Homeland Security earlier seized two domains publishing "thousands of digitally forged images and videos depicting famous women", and that the large deepfake forum MrDeepfakes shut down in May 2025 after a media investigation. Those are 404 Media's references; we have not re-read the underlying releases for this article.

The release ends with a list of earlier domain seizures by the same bureau, which is useful context for how the office uses this tool. It cites "twelve domains from five online vendors which sold stolen credit and debit card information", covering "more than one million cards stolen from people across the United States", and the domain of Coin Dispute Network, "which was later indicted – along with its creators, Michael Lauchlan and Gary Zaydman – for allegedly steal from customers by falsely claiming it could trace and recover cryptocurrency in exchange for a fee". The quoted grammar is the release's own. The pattern in that list is seizure first, charges later or in parallel; the deepfake case is at the first step.

Whether any operator will be charged, and under which law. Whether minors appear in the material, a question Bragg declined at the press conference. Where the sites were hosted and whether the operators are within US jurisdiction; the release says only that the office "will continue to monitor these websites to prevent them from operating under different domains". And a number the release does not give: how many similar sites are still up. Gothamist's headline records Bragg "acknowledging that many more such sites are still operating".

Our earlier record of Microsoft's proposed code of conduct for its AI models is the industry-side view of the same problem: what a model provider says it will refuse to generate. This case is what happens downstream when tools do not refuse. The team behind these records, and how it works, is on the About page; readers who want the basics first can start with the Uncle Sunny Academy.

• Manhattan District Attorney's Office, "Manhattan D.A.'s Office Seizes Domains Of 12 Illegal Websites Selling AI-Generated 'Deep Fakes'", 14 September 2026 — the 12 domains, the approximately 1,200 victims, the court order, the Cyber Crime Bureau, the victim profile, both Bragg quotes, the precedent list and the named prosecutors.
• Gothamist, "Manhattan DA seizes 12 deepfake porn sites, says many more are out there", 14 September 2026, 2:37 p.m. ET — the site names shown, "stemmed from a single complaint", "No one has been charged".
• 404 Media, "New York Seizes 12 Celebrity Deepfake Websites", 14 September 2026, 1:26 p.m. — the declined question on minors, the earlier federal seizures and the MrDeepfakes reference.
• ABC7 New York (WABC), "Manhattan district attorney seizes a dozen celebrity deepfake websites", 14 September 2026, 6:38 p.m. — the "courage of a survivor" quote.

Educational content. Not investment advice.