3 days ago
GirlsDoPorn Owner Michael Pratt Pleads Guilty to Sprawling $17 M Sex Trafficking Operation
GirlsDoPorn Owner Michael Pratt Pleads Guilty to Sprawling $17 M Sex Trafficking Operation originally appeared on L.A. Mag.
Michael Pratt, the mastermind behind the GirlsDoPorn sex trafficking ring that "extorted and terrorized women and teenage girls to produce pornography," pleaded guilty Thursday in a San Diego federal court, three years after he was captured in Spain, where he had been living as a fugitive, federal prosecutors say. Pratt, who was the owner of the GirlsDoPorn and GirlsDoToys websites was charged in October 2019 as part of a 19-count indictment that accused him of sex trafficking, production of child pornography, sex trafficking of a minor, and money laundering, all part of his "scheme to deceive and coerce young women to appear in pornographic videos," the Department of Justice said. The victims were lied to, federal prosecutors say, and were told the videos would not be posted online. Instead, Pratt admitted, he enticed subscribers to his website - which raked in $17 million dollars - by posting the videos on international sites like Pornhub. "Women from various places throughout the United States and Canada were recruited to appear in videos based on these material misrepresentations," prosecutors say. Pratt had help, court records indicate, from male model and porn star Ruben Andre Garcia, who lured the women he would perform alongside, with a target age of 18 to 20, with promises of "clothed modeling" for a fake entity called "Bubblegum Casting." Pratt even bought a website domain called and set up a seemingly legitimate production company that could be googled called Plus One Media, which was used to recruit unwitting aspiring actresses.
The victims responded to ads that offered to pay "cute girls" anywhere from $2000 to $6000 for modeling gigs, according to the indictment. The traffickers lured the women to the San Diego area by paying for their flights. In one case detailed in the indictment, Garcia picked up one young victim at the airport and brought her to a hotel room where he made her pose for nude photos "for his boss" before raping her, growling during the attack that "he needed to take her for a test drive," the indictment states. The ensuing sex tape was posted online and later seen by her family who "disowned her," the victim told prosecutors, leaving her homeless. This, prosecutors say, was a pattern repeated over and over again by Pratt and his co-conspirators. Teens and young women being lured with promises of fast cash for modeling gigs who were instead forced to perform on camera in hotel rooms at the Hard Rock Hotel and at short-term rentals in Dana Point, among other locations. "If the women balked at the sex acts," Pratt or his co-conspirators threatened to sue the women, cancel flights home, and post the videos on-line if the women did not complete the sex videos," prosecutors say. The victims, many under the legal drinking age, and some under the legal age of consent, were plied with alcohol and drugs and then forced to say on camera that they were not under the influence. When the videos went live, the victims were harassed, bullied out of colleges, lost jobs, or threatened with lawsuits over the sham contracts the women signed under duress from Pratt and his employees. When one father found out, he went after Pratt legally to remove his daughter's video with a letter to the pornographer's attorney. Pratt's lawyer responded by "attaching naked photos of the man's daughter," the indictment states.
Soon the victims of Pratt's scheme found their social media profiles and real names on a site dedicated to exposing the identities of individuals appearing in explicit videos, which were likely liked by members of his enterprise. Dozens of survivors told prosecutors they became suicidal, or saw their lives spiral out of control after shooting the films during which they were often physically battered and then told to stop making "pain faces." "The sex for the video shoots was rough and caused many victims pain, and in some cases, bleeding. Some victims asked to stop filming," prosecutors say, but their pleas were denied. Worse, the promised payments for the abuse were reduced or withheld entirely. Pratt, who is a New Zealand native, and his coconspirators, Matthew Isaac Wolfe, who told investigators he moved to southern California from New Zealand to work as a producer for the sites; cameraman Theodore Gyi; model Amberlyn Dee Nored, office manager Valorie Moser - who admitted to recruiting some of the victims - were all charged by federal prosecutors in 2019. The pornographers have since confessed that the victims who were willing were told the videos would never appear in the United States, which was a lie. When the 2019 indictment was unsealed, Pratt "liquidated his assets and fled the United States," federal prosecutors say. His flight from justice landed him on the FBI's Most Wanted list. An Interpol Red Notice was issued for his arrest, which led police in Madrid to lock him up in December 2021. He remained in a Spanish prison until his extradition back to San Diego last March. 'The capture of Michael Pratt is an example of how the FBI will pursue justice beyond U.S. borders — you can run, but you can't hide,' Special Agent in Charge of the FBI San Diego field office Stacey Moy said after Pratt was brought back to the U.S.
Wolfe pleaded guilty in 2022, and was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. Garcia pleaded guilty in 2020 and was sentenced to 20 years. Gyi pleaded guilty in 2021 and was sentenced to 4 years. Moser's sentencing hearing is slated for this fall, which is when Pratt is expected to be sentenced. The charges against Dee Nored were dropped. Any other victims who were part of the Pratt organization's fraud are urged to call FBI National Threat Operations Center at 1-800-CALL-FBI. Many of the women who were victimized have still not yet come forward.
This story was originally reported by L.A. Mag on Jun 6, 2025, where it first appeared.
