CNN producer, former Cuomo colleague arrested after allegedly enticing girls as young as 9 for sex

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested CNN producer and former Chris Cuomo colleague John Griffin, 44, on three counts of using interstate commerce to entice minors to engage in sexual activity. 

Cuomo was fired by CNN earlier this month following evidence that showed he attempted to assist his brother, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.), fight sexual harassment and assault allegations. The now former Cuomo Prime Time host is now facing his own sexual misconduct allegations.

According to Griffin's LinkedIn profile, he has worked for CNN for nearly nine years as a senior producer. The Princeton graduate wrote that he works "shoulder-to-shoulder with lead anchor Chris Cuomo, seeing him through each show and producing live breaking news across the country and around the world."

"Writer, Father, Tech Head," Griffin describes himself on his verified Twitter account. He was pictured on CNN's official New Day account in 2015, with a caption joking about Griffin sitting in Cuomo's seat.

According to the Department of Justice (DOJ) press release, Griffin used Kik and Google Hangouts communicate with people saying they were parents of young daughters, saying things like a "woman is a woman regardless of her age" and that women should be subservient and inferior to men. 

He reportedly wanted to convince parents to let him "train their daughters to be sexually submissive."

In 2020, he allegedly gave a mother and her 9-year-old daughter $3,000 to fly from Nevada to Massachusetts. The young daughter then engaged in unlawful sexual sexual activities at the direction of Griffin.

The release additionally notes that also in 2020, Griffin directed a mother and her 14-year-old daughter to touch each other while naked at his direction during a "virtual training session."

He faces ten years to life in prison on each charge, and the indictment states that the government is seeking the "forfeiture of Griffin’s Ludlow house, his Tesla, a Mercedes, and other property that was used in the commission of the charged offenses."

Similar to the network's initial decision to suspend Cuomo, a spokesperson from CNN told Fox News, "We take the charges against Mr. Griffin incredibly seriously… We only learned of his arrest this afternoon and have suspended him pending investigation."