The former board president of an elite youth swim program has been sentenced after pleading guilty to child sex exploitation charges in January.
Arlington resident Mark Black, who previously helped to lead the Olympian-producing Arlington Aquatic Club, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Federal prosecutors say Black, 50, possessed “approximately 172,707 images of suspected [child sexual abuse material].” He also induced prepubescent girls to perform sex acts via webcam, which he then recorded, prosecutors said.
Black formerly worked as an attorney for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which is based in Virginia Square.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced the sentencing Tuesday afternoon. More, below, from a U.S. Dept. of Justice press release.
A former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) attorney was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for conspiring to sexually exploit numerous children.
According to court documents, from January 2018 to October 2021, Mark Black, 50, of Arlington, Virginia, was a member of two online groups dedicated to locating prepubescent girls online and convincing the girls to livestream themselves engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Black and his co-conspirators covertly recorded these livestreams and share the videos with each other.
In July 2019, Black induced a prepubescent minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct on a live-streaming application while screen-recording that activity. That same month, Black and a co-conspirator also groomed another prepubescent minor to engage in sexually explicit acts on a photo and video-sharing application. The co-conspirator surreptitiously shared access to girl’s live-video feed and recorded the sexual acts before sending them to Black.
Between July 2019 and March 2022, Black and the same co-conspirator were members of two additional groups dedicated to the sexual exploitation of children and the sharing of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). In January 2021, Black sent CSAM of a minor to one of the groups.
Black’s electronic devices were found to contain approximately 172,707 images of suspected CSAM. Of those files, over 1,300 depicted identified victims of his conduct.
Black was formerly the Arlington Aquatic Club (AAC) board president.
Black pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to produce child pornography and coercion and enticement of a minor.
Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Assistant Director Michael D. Nordwall of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; and Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Shimon Richmond of the FDIC Office of Inspector General (FDIC-OIG) made the announcement.
The FBI and FDIC-OIG investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Halper for the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorneys McKenzie Hightower, Kaylynn Foulon, and James E. Burke IV of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Justice Department. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.