Popular Fortnite gamer Raulzito accused of sex attacks on children
Brazilian streamer Raulino de Oliveira Maciel, known as RaulZito, was arrested after two children told police he used promises of TV work to abuse them.
Brazilian Fortnite streamer Raulino de Oliveira Maciel, known online as RaulZito, was arrested July 27, 2021, on charges of sexually assaulting two children, according to reporting from Esports Talk and other outlets covering the case.
The arrest followed a report to Brazil's Civil Police Department for Child and Adolescent Victims (DCAV) in Rio de Janeiro. The two identified victims were between 10 and 14 years old, and the alleged abuse took place between February and May 2021, per the retrieved reporting.
According to the victims' accounts as reported by Esports Talk, Maciel used his gaming celebrity status to contact the children through social media, offering them work in the entertainment industry — reporting elsewhere on the case describes this as posing as connected to TV companies. Authorities searched a residence tied to Maciel in São Paulo before he was arrested in Florianópolis.
His platform and reach at the time
At the time of his arrest, Maciel had more than 200,000 Instagram followers, 118,000 Twitch followers and 144,000 YouTube subscribers, according to Esports Talk's reporting. His esports network affiliation, SBT Games, severed ties with him following the arrest, while his Twitch channel remained active at the time of that report.
What investigators said
Brazilian authorities said the investigation was ongoing and left open the possibility that additional victims could come forward, per the retrieved coverage. The specific charges filed were reported as two counts of sexual assault of minors.
The retrieved reporting does not specify whether Maciel was held in custody pending trial or released, nor does it detail any statement from Maciel or his legal representation responding to the allegations. Coverage from the time also did not establish what, if any, response Twitch or Instagram made regarding his continued presence on their platforms beyond the initial report that his channel remained active.
What it signals
The case illustrates how a gaming-adjacent public profile — built on platforms like Twitch, YouTube and Instagram rather than traditional media — could be used, according to the allegations, as a direct pipeline to reach and allegedly exploit children through the promise of entertainment-industry access, a dynamic investigators said they were still working to fully map at the time of the arrest.
US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by Esports Talk. It restores a story originally published on this site in July 2021; figures are as reported at the time.