Steven Fabrizio, a high-level executive at the Motion Picture Association of America, has been fired by the organization following his reported arrest on charges he sexually abused and blackmailed a woman he contacted through an online dating service.
Fabrizio, who was senior executive vice president and global general counsel for the MPAA, joined the organization in 2013. MPAA Chairman and Chief Executive Charles Rivkin emailed the group's board on Monday morning saying Fabrizio was fired.
"This is to inform you that Steve Fabrizio's employment with the MPAA has ended for violating certain terms of employment," Rivkin said in the memo. "I've asked Daniel Robbins to be interim General Counsel as we embark on a search for a permanent replacement."
The MPAA is the Washington, D.C.-based lobbying arm of the major Hollywood film studios: Walt Disney Co., Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. and Netflix.
Fabrizio was reportedly arrested Aug. 23 in D.C. In his role at the MPAA, he oversaw the group's copyright protection activities around the world.
"These charges, if true, are both shocking and intolerable to the Association," an MPAA spokesman said in a statement. "We had no prior knowledge of this behavior before these charges were publicly filed."
