The general counsel of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) — Hollywood’s top lobbying organization — was fired on Monday after being arrested for the alleged rape and blackmail of a woman he contacted through a dating site.
Steven Fabrizio was arrested by Metropolitan Police Department detectives in Washington, D.C., on Friday, according to the police report.
The MPAA leadership was left reeling upon news of Fabrizio’s arrest and the allegations against him revealed in court documents.
“This is to inform you that Steve Fabrizio’s employment with the MPAA has ended for violating certain terms of employment,” MPAA chairman-CEO Charles Rivkin wrote in an email to members of the board, which is made up of representatives of the major studios and Netflix. “I’ve asked Daniel Robbins to be interim general counsel as we embark on a search for a permanent replacement.”
An MPAA insider added late Monday, “These charges, if true, are both shocking and intolerable to the Association. We had no prior knowledge of this behavior before these charges were publicly filed.”
Hired by the MPAA in 2013, Fabrizio previously worked at the Recording Industry Association of America, where he was a senior vp in the business and legal affairs department, and worked on cases against file-sharing services like Napster. Prior to that, Fabrizio was a partner at Jenner & Block and a big courtroom presence on behalf of the content industry in high-profile battles against Grokster, Hotfile and Aereo.
