Man sentenced to jail over deepfake images of Brisbane high school students

In short:

Antonio Rotondo has been sentenced to two years in jail for creating and distributing "profoundly violating" and "degrading" deepfakes of Brisbane women and children.

Rotondo was found guilty of 17 offences yesterday, including distributing intimate images, distributing child exploitation material and stalking.

What's next?

He was granted immediate parole but will remain in custody on other matters.

A man who created "profoundly violating" and "degrading" deepfakes of Brisbane women and children has been described as having "no empathy" for his victims but was spared further jail time.

Antonio Rotondo was found guilty of 17 offences by a jury on Tuesday, including five counts of distributing intimate images.

He was also found guilty of a single count of distributing child exploitation material and 11 counts of stalking.

In 2023, the 56-year-old digitally altered photographs of several women and girls he found on public websites in a way that depicted them either entirely or partially nude.

Rotondo sent those images, which included current and former students and staff of a Brisbane private school, to their school administration email and multiple other recipients.

He offended in the same way with images of women who participated in Brisbane Fashion Week and some of the deepfakes were also uploaded to a website he controlled.

'We don't deserve this'

Seven victim impact statements were tendered to the court, with some women describing the offending against them as "profoundly violating" and "so degrading".

One woman said she felt "embarrassed and betrayed" but "did not blame the technology", stating "it's the people who use it".

Another woman said she was "mortified" when she saw the image of herself and described feeling "humiliated and powerless" as well as "incredibly vulnerable".

She said she felt like she had "lost her dignity and sense of control over her own image".

A third woman said it broke her heart to know it also happened to others and claimed "we don't deserve this".

The mother of a 13-year-old girl who was also targeted said she carried the burden of "keeping that secret" from her daughter for now but expects it will be confronting to have to tell her what happened one day.

Representing himself, Rotondo made brief submissions effectively stating he did not believe he should be sentenced for 17 charges.

Rotondo said he only sent two emails while he was living overseas and some of the victims had not been shown the images of themselves until the trial.

"[The prosecution] completed the crime in the courtroom by showing the images to the witnesses," he said.

He also blamed two people he had emailed the images to, as being the ones who "carried out the actions to make the witnesses aware" of the offending.

Crown prosecutor Ben Jackson submitted Rotondo's prospects of rehabilitation were "concerning" given he had not shown any remorse.

"There's been no signs at all that he appreciates what he's done or the impact he's had," he said.

Judge John Allen agreed it was "demonstrably clear" Rotondo has "absolutely no insight" into the seriousness of his conduct.

"You have no empathy for the victims of your offending, and you have no remorse whatsoever,"

he said.

Judge Allen said the consequences of what he had done were "profound and long lasting" for the women and girls.

Rotondo was handed a head sentence of two years in jail which he has already served.

He was given immediate parole but will remain in custody on other matters.