Earlier this week, we learned some of the details of former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson's ongoing revenge porn charges filed in Scottsdale, Arizona. Today, new information has surfaced courtesy of Arizona Republic.
While Megadeth announced on May 24th, that Ellefson had been fired from the band, police documents revealed that Ellefson knew 10 days before, on May 14th, that he would be dismissed. That means the decision was ultimately made four days after the controversy surfaced.
Ellefson contacted his lawyer and submitted to a polygraph test. Three days after, he was officially fired.
When the firing was made official, Dave Mustaine wrote "We do not take this decision lightly. While we do not know every detail of what occurred, with an already strained relationship, what has already been revealed now is enough to make working together impossible moving forward.
"We look forward to seeing our fans on the road this summer, and we cannot wait to share our brand new music with the world. It is almost complete."
According to the Arizona Republic report, Ellefson first became aware of the situation on May 9th, when he received a text from an unidentified party tipping him off to an email regarding the matter. Ellefson then learned an Instagram user posted “David Ellefson of Megadeth is a pedophile” on the social network.
He contacted Megadeth management, who said they had problems with this Instagram user harassing band members in the past and to sit tight and let it blow over. The whole thing ended up going viral, and eventually video footage of Ellefson masturbating leaked on Twitter.
Ellefson contacted the woman, who admitted to recording their sexual encounters without his knowledge. He said in the report that she was remorseful and willing to post a statement saying that she was a consenting adult and a willing participant.
The police report notes that Ellefson produced a drivers license for the woman that would confirm she was 19 at the time of their first sexual encounter.
Ellefson told Arizona Republic that they are filing a defamation lawsuit against the leaker, and the leaker "will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." He noted "The actions in the video were between two consenting adults and were recorded without my knowledge. I am working with Scottsdale Police Department in their investigation into charges regarding revenge pornography to be filed against the person who posted this video."
Ellefson told police he met the girl in 2019 when he was signing autographs and remained friends on social media. Ellefson and the girl met again in 2020 in the Netherlands at a hotel lobby to have coffee and a soda, which the report adds "there was no physical contact and they just had a conversation." The report later states that the relationship turned sexual in "July or August".
"He stated they had about four to five masturbating encounters," the report said. “The last online sexual encounter was around February 2021. [Ellefson’s partner] admitted to Mr. Ellefson that she had recorded two to three videos of him masturbating without his consent or knowledge." Once the masturbation videos leaked, Ellefson was advised that the band's lawyers would look into things.
"He was advised by management to ‘not do anything and sit tight’ because it would probably ‘blow over,'" the report says. "Management advised him they would have their lawyer team investigate it." The teenager said she shared the videos of Ellefson with friends, but "wasn’t sure how it got leaked out to others. She was remorseful and agreed to send out a social media statement on her Instagram account that she had been a willing consenting adult during their mutual virtual sexual encounter."
Ellefson played with Megadeth from their inception in 1983 up until they broke up in 2002. Ellefson rejoined in 2010 and played with the band until this year.
