GirlsDoPorn owner extradited to face sex trafficking charges
SAN DIEGO (KYMA, KECY) - The U.S. Attorney's Office said Michael Pratt, the alleged mastermind behind the GirlsDoPorn commercial sex trafficking ring, appeared in federal court on Tuesday.
Pratt was extradited from Spain on Monday night, said the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Michael Pratt was the owner of the website called GirlsDoPorn and was charged with sex trafficking crimes in October 2019.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said the trafficking crimes were in connection with a scheme to deceive and coerce young women to appear in pornographic videos.
He was an international fugitive for more than three years until he was arrested in Spain in December 2022, said the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Pratt was also named to the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted List in early 2022.
Michael Pratt was arraigned and entered a not-guilty plea in Tuesday's hearing. There is a detention hearing scheduled for Thursday, along with a motion hearing/trial setting on April 19.
Public court filings stated that Pratt and his co-defendants used force, fraud, and coercion to recruit hundreds of young adult women, including those in their late teens, and at least one minor victim to appear in the videos.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said Pratt is accused of recruiting the victims from the U.S. and Canada by using internet advertisements for clothed modeling jobs.
Pratt and the co-defendants told the victims that the job involved an adult video shoot but also convinced them that their videos would be provided to only private collectors on DVD in foreign countries.
Including that they would stay anonymous and the videos would not be posted online, however, Pratt and his co-defendants knew this was false.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said that most of the video shoots took place in San Diego at local hotels and short-term rental units and would take hours.
During the production, some women were not allowed to leave the shooting locations until the videos were finished.
While some were threatened with lawsuits or canceled flights home if they did not finish the videos, and others were allegedly forced to perform certain sex acts they earlier declined to do.
When the victims returned home, Pratt and his co-defendants posted clips of the videos on adult film sites, like Pornhub, to direct people to his website, GirlsDoPorn.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said Pratt would charge web visitors a subscription fee and the site generated more than $17 million in revenue for Pratt.
Pratt is facing 19 felony counts including:
- 15 counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion
- Conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion
- Production of child pornography
- Sex trafficking of a minor by force, fraud, and coercion
- Conspiracy to commit money laundering
