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two teenage girls said former teacher People associated with a $63,000-a-year private school in Brooklyn threatened to carry out “revenge porn bombings” and expose nude photos after allegedly forcing them to take explicit photos, according to a newly filed federal lawsuit.
The lawsuit accuses Winston Nguyen, a former teacher at St. Ann’s School, of soliciting nude photos and videos from the girls when they were 13 years old and then sharing the material with students.
Nguyen pleaded guilty last year to a felony charge and multiple misdemeanors and is serving a seven-year sentence, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
The civil lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court names St. Ann’s School, several administrators and Nguyen as defendants. The girls are not students at St Ann’s College, they claim school leadership Despite repeated warnings about Nguyen’s behavior, they were negligent and failed to take action.
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Winston Nguyen appears in Brooklyn Supreme Court on March 19, 2025. Nguyen was sentenced to seven years in prison for deceiving several children under the age of 13 into sending him sexually explicit photos and other illegal activities. Two victim impact statements were recorded but the victims did not appear in court. He also had marks on his eyes because his lawyers said he was beaten while incarcerated. (Gregory P. Mango)
Nguyen, 39, was arrested in June 2024 outside the Brooklyn Heights campus. He pleaded guilty to using a child in a sexual performance and five misdemeanor counts.
saint ann, an elite private school The program, which charges annual tuition of about $60,000, is known for its high Ivy League acceptance rate and includes celebrities, artists and Wall Street executives, but has been surrounded by scandal for nearly two years.
The lawsuit marks the first time some of Nguyen’s victims have publicly shared their accounts.
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Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said Nguyen betrayed his position of trust by targeting teenage victims from multiple elite private schools.
According to prosecutors, Nguyen used the messaging app Snapchat to pose as a teenage boy and engage in sexually explicit conversations with minors, convincing them to send nude photos and videos. The victims were between the ages of 13 and 15 and the crimes occurred between October 2022 and May 2024, the District Attorney’s Office said.
According to the complaint, The New York Times obtainedthe girls said they felt pressured to comply because they believed Nguyen was a socially influential peer among St. Ann students.
“It was a sickening betrayal of trust for a teacher to trick his students into sending him images and nude photos,” Gonzalez said at the sentencing. “Today’s sentence holds him accountable for his actions while sparing the young and vulnerable victims from having to relive this emotional abuse in court.”
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In this photo illustration, the phone screen displays the Snapchat logo in front of the keyboard. (Mohammed Enes Yildirim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
After the girls cut off contact, Nguyen allegedly shared nude photos of them with other students.
The lawsuit alleges that Saint Ann’s leadership received two warnings in early 2024: Explicit pictures of young girls The messages were circulated among students on Snapchat, but police were not notified or intervened outside of internal meetings.
“Only the school was aware of the circulating revenge porn and Nguyen’s history of inappropriate behavior,” the complaint states.
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Winston Nguyen appears in Brooklyn Supreme Court on March 19, 2025. Nguyen was sentenced to seven years in prison for deceiving several children under the age of 13 into sending him sexually explicit photos and other illegal activities. Two victim impact statements were recorded but the victims did not appear in court. He also had marks on his eyes because his lawyers said he was beaten while incarcerated. (Gregory P. Mango)
The complaint alleges that St. Ann prison administrators knew Nguyen had previously served time in prison when they hired him in 2020. The New York Times reported in December 2024 that at least one staff member warned against hiring Nguyen because of his criminal record for financially exploiting an elderly couple.
Nguyen was initially employed as a clerk and later became a middle school mathematics teacher. School officials allegedly knew he slept on campus, gave students gifts and snacks, and sought out students on social media.
Parents, teachers and students who raised concerns were allegedly fired or “humiliated” for being “racist or unprogressive,” according to a 2024 report by a law firm commissioned by the school. Nguyen is the son of Vietnamese immigrants.
Following a lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of New York, leader of st an’s A letter was sent to the school community questioning the allegations.
“The complaint includes several misrepresentations of St. Ann’s role and we will address and dispute this sensitive matter through the appropriate legal channels,” school president Kenyatte Reid and board chair Mary Watson wrote, adding that they “care about all victims affected by Nguyen’s actions.”
The girls’ attorney, Joshua Perry, said evidence will show St. Ann’s leadership repeatedly ignored warning signs about Nguyen’s behavior.
“The school ignored every warning sign and coddled known predators,” Perry told Fox News Digital.
Perry said St Ann’s was aware of Nguyen’s previous convictions involving vulnerable victims and knew he was giving gifts to students, interacting with them on social media, breaching boundaries by visiting their homes and holding unauthorized meetings with students on campus.
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Winston Nguyen attends the New York series premiere of city.ballet. Opened on November 4, 2013 at the Tribeca Cinema in New York. (Mireia Aseseso/FilmMagic)
“These are not just speculations on my part,” Perry said. “The school’s own internal investigators, law firm Debevoise and Plimpton, uncovered all of these facts. But the school continues to deny any responsibility.”
Perry also disputed the suggestion that his client’s injuries were merely accusations, noting that Nguyen had pleaded guilty.
“This is not just the charge. Nguyen pleaded guilty and Jane and Joan’s impact statements were read out at sentencing,” he said.
Perry said the girls, identified in court documents as Jane and Joan, were deeply traumatized.
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Girls at St. Ann’s School in Brooklyn Heights are threatened in a “revenge porn” lawsuit. (Google Maps)
“They’re devastated. Depressed. Anxious. Scared. Ashamed,” Perry said. “But they are very brave young women who are fighting back.”
Nguyen’s attorney, Frank Rothman, told The New York Times that his client was penniless and incarcerated, but acknowledged the school could be held liable.
“At the very least, they should stop and think, ‘Is this the right person for this job?'” Rothman said.
St. Ann’s has faced sexual misconduct allegations before. In 2019, the school admitted that 19 former staff members may have engaged in inappropriate behavior toward students.
The girls’ testimonies were read at Nguyen’s sentencing hearing last year.
“Nude pictures of me as a teenager will be on the internet forever,” one wrote. “You’ve ruined my life, destroyed my ability to trust, and hurt any chance I had of loving myself.”
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Perry said he hoped more victims would come forward but blamed St. Ann’s for holding them back.
“St Ann’s Hospital has a record of bullying and intimidating victims,” he said. “But Jane and Joan are fighting back, and so can other young women.”
Perry said he is seeking accountability from St. Ann’s leadership and accused school officials of minimizing responsibility.
“St. Ann put a predator on the kids of Brooklyn,” he said. “They can’t hide in an ivory tower.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to St. Ann’s School and Nguyen’s attorney for comment.
Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicide and immigration crime. Send story tips to [email protected].
