A stage mom who described herself as the Madame of YouTube has settled a lawsuit filed by 11 teenagers who accused her of sexually abusing them.
Tiffany Smith, whose 17-year-old daughter Piper Rockelle runs a hugely popular YouTube channel, agreed to a confidential settlement with the children this week.
The children, who are all still minors, were part of the Piper Squad and created lucrative videos at the behest of Smith, who allegedly bragged that she makes kiddy porn and would encourage the group to act in a sexy way.
In the suit against Smith, she was accused of rubbing one of the girls exposed thighs and moving her hand toward her vagina, constantly spanking her buttocks and sticking her finger/poking her anus over clothing.
That same victim, identified as Claire Rocksmith, revealed Smith would comment on how big her breasts looked and attempt to squeeze them, and that on one occasion she tried to spit in the girls mouth.
Tiffany Smith, whose 17-year-old daughter Piper Rockelle runs a hugely popular YouTube channel, agreed to a confidential settlement with the children this week
In a complaint filed in January 2022, 11 teens from the Piper Squad say that Tiffany Smith, 41, would intentionally inflict distress on the group while they were producing content for Pipers YouTube account
The children, who are all still minors, were part of the Piper Squad and created lucrative videos at the behest of Smith, who allegedly bragged that she makes kiddy porn and would encourage the group to act in a sexy way
A separate complainant revealed she joined Smith at the post office on one occasion when she was shipping Pipers soiled training bras and panties to an unknown individual.
Smith reportedly told the child old men like to sniff this stuff.
Sawyer Sharbino, Donlad Dougher, Corrine Joy, Connor Cain, Symonne Harrison, Ayden Mekus, Hayden Haas, Walker Bryant, Sophia Fergi, Claire Rocksmith, and Reese Rocksmith were all listed on the initial complaint.
According to the group, Smith would also assume an alter-ego as Frank the Pug or Lenny the Dead Cat and shout out explicit phrases to the children.
Im going to f**k you up the a**, and Im going to touch you in your sleep were both listed in the complaint as phrases used by Smiths alter-ego.
Dhillon Law Group partner and lead attorney Matt Sarelson said he wanted to publicly commend these 11 kids in a statement announcing Smith had settled.
The children would do kissing challenges online, some of which have been viewed tens of millions of times
Theyre smart and brave. What they went through was grotesque. I look forward to watching them thrive as young adults.
The children were initially each seeking $2million in compensatory damages, as well as punitive damages.
It is not yet clear what the final agreed figure was.
One of the plaintiffs, Sophia, said the lawsuit was never about money - it was to make sure she couldnt do what she did to me to another kid.
My youth was stripped away at a very young age because of Tiffany Rockelle.
According to the group, Smith would exploit the children on her daughters YouTube channel
Reese and Claire Rocksmith are both involved in the lawsuit and are cousins of Rockelle
Hayden Haas (left) and Ayden Mekus (right) are both former members of Pipers Squad
Corinne Joy (left) and Connor Cain, two of the other plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Smith
Walker Bryant (left) and Sophia Fergi (right), both plaintiffs in the case
Sawyer Sharbino is one of the 11 minors named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit
Angela Sharbino, whose son was also a plaintiff, said: We didn’t pursue this lawsuit to change the industry, but to bring awareness that predators can be found in any field, this was about holding the person who harmed our kids accountable.
Beyond the emotional and physical harm alleged by the children involved in Piper Squad, they also allege they were financially taken advantage of.
They claimed they were never compensated for featuring on Pipers page and helping her account to grow.
Smith would allegedly post links to the plaintiffs YouTube accounts on porn sites, which would prompt viewers from the adult-only sites to click in and watch.
This would then get flagged to YouTube causing its algorithm to believe the content of the teens videos were sexual or inappropriate thus restricting their viewing.
The restricted viewing would deplete their engagement, and therefore meant they would not make as much money from the video.