In a federal indictment unsealed Thursday afternoon, the U.S. attorney’s office of San Diego charged the owners and one employee of the adult website Girls Do Porn with four counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force. A second employee was charged with one count of the latter.
The Daily Beast has reported on the allegations against Girls Do Porn since August, when another case against the company—a class-action lawsuit representing 22 Jane Does—went to trial after years of hearings, discovery, and strategic delays from the defendants. The trial was initially planned for February, for example, but delayed for six months when the company’s owner, New Zealand native Michael Pratt, filed for bankruptcy. “As soon as I bankrupt the business,” Pratt wrote in texts later submitted as evidence, “they are fucked.”
In the civil case, the same four accused—owner Michael Pratt, colleague Matthew Wolfe, porn actor Andre Garcia and administrative assistant Valerie Moser—faced accusations from the 22 Jane Does of coercing and defrauding them into adult movies. (Moser was released as a defendant and testified as a plaintiff’s witness). The company allegedly conned the plaintiffs and several hundred other young, low-income girls into porn by making false promises that their scenes would not go online. They claimed the tapes would sell only to private collectors abroad.
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To help make their case, the company allegedly paid other women to pose as references. But the videos inevitably went online, ending in harassment and doxxing for many of the models. The company was very popular— their videos accrued hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of views, and the websites generated around $17 million, court documents say.
“Irrespective of this federal criminal indictment, we are committed to moving forward with the civil trial that has been underway for eight weeks,” Ed Chaplin, lead attorney for the civil case, said in a statement. “We want to get justice for the women that these men harmed as well as damages for the devastating events they lived through and have had to deal with ever since.”
In the new complaint, federal prosecutors echo many of the claims made in the civil case—citing instances where women were pressured or threatened into signing contracts, the hiring of fake “references,” and mistreatment during shoots. After filming, some girls were not paid the agreed-upon fee. All would find their videos online within a matter of weeks. “Some victims were harassed and ridiculed and estranged from their families as a result,” prosecutors wrote in a press release Thursday, echoing The Daily Beast’s reporting, “and some were sexually assaulted and in at least one case raped.”
García and Wolfe were arrested on Oct. 9. Pratt fled the country last month, defying a subpoena to testify in the civil case. “Pratt is a fugitive,” the complaint read. Later that night, the FBI raided the company’s office in search of evidence of conspiracy.
If convicted, the group could face life in prison and a $250,000 fine. The minimum penalty for Pratt, Wolfe, and García, who are facing all four charges, is 15 years in prison.
It’s unclear how the new charges could impact the civil case. “We are not 100% certain how this will affect our trial,” Chaplin said. “The law says the judge has discretion to stay a civil case while the criminal matter is resolved. That means the judge has the option to put our trial on hold until the criminal matters are wrapped up. We will know more after court today. We are currently about two weeks away from finishing and would like to have our case resolved without delay.”
