A new report alleges Roblox, a popular online video game, has become a “pedophile hellscape for kids” despite several congressional lawmakers and their associates choosing to buy and sell stock in the company over the past several years.

Hindenburg Research, a firm focusing on financial studies, issued a report Tuesday explaining that bad actors are known to groom children on Roblox, encouraging them to “trade sexual content.” Cases of kidnap and rape have also been documented, the group says.

People associated with Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif. and Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., bought and sold the company’s stock between the fall of 2021 and early 2023, data from Capitol Trades shows.

Capitol Trades, which lists transactions by congressional lawmakers based on ethics filings, states whether a purchase or sale is made by the legislator or someone else. Rep. Pelosi’s spouse, Paul Pelosi, is listed as the owner of the Roblox, or RBLX, shares.

Rep. Banks is described as a joint-owner of some of his shares, but Capitol Trades does not disclose any relationship he has to others. The website designates Rep. Khanna’s children as owners of RBLX stock. Capitol Trades does not disclose Rep. Goldman’s relationship to transactions for RBLX.

Capitol Trades’s data shows that the people associated with the legislators traded RBLX as allegations about 8- to 14-year-old children being “groomed” reportedly appeared in indictments from 2019 to this year.

Paul Pelosi bought between $250,000 and $500,000 of RBLX in 2021, according to Capitol Trades. He later sold between $100,000 and roughly $250,000 of his shares from 2022 to 2023, the website’s data shows.

Rep. Pelosi did not return a request for comment.

Capitol Trades also shows that a person associated with Rep. Banks bought between $15,000 and $65,000 of RBLX in November 2021. That same month, the associate sold between $1,000 and $15,000 of the stock, according to the data.

Rep. Banks did not answer questions regarding the trades.

Capitol Trades lists at least one of Rep. Khanna’s children as the owner of between $1,000 and $15,000 of Roblox shares bought in 2021. Six months later, that owner sold RBLX stock of the same amount, the data shows.

Rep. Khanna said he does not own or sell any individual stocks. However, his wife has owned assets that are managed by an “independent third party” since before the two were married, according to the congressman.

“Both the buying and selling of these shares were handled by an independent third party without my knowledge,” Rep. Khanna said.

A person associated with Rep. Goldman bought between $15,000 and $50,000 of Roblox shares last year, according to Capitol Trades. He did not return a request for comment.

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation is calling on Congress to pass the Kids Online Safety Act following the release of the Hindenburg Research report.

“Roblox is rightly under fire from investors, as the platform refuses to implement the most basic, common-sense measures to protect its young users – a quarter of which are under age nine. Roblox has knowingly left children vulnerable to the many predators and pornographic content rampant on its platform. We commend Hindenburg Research for bringing additional attention to Roblox’s refusal to adequately protect children,” Lina Nealon from the National Center on Sexual Exploitation said.

Roblox rejected Hindenburg Research’s report, writing in a statement that “safety” and “civility” are “foundational” for the company.

“Roblox takes any content or behavior on the platform that doesn’t abide by its standards extremely seriously, and Roblox has a robust set of proactive and preventative safety measures designed to catch and prevent malicious or harmful activity on the platform,” the statement reads.

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