Porn website GirlsDoPorn must pay 22 women $12.7 million for lying to them and coercing them into making pornographic videos, a San Diego judge ordered Thursday.
The judge ruled that three men operating GirlsDoPorn had posted misleading Craigslist ads, forced the women to film porn videos against their will and assured them that the videos would never appear on the internet, the San Diego Union Tribune reported. The videos, of course, did appear on the internet, both on GirlsDoPorn’s own website and on popular free websites like Pornhub.com. The young women were then named in the video comment sections, and at least one considered suicide.
Michael Pratt, 36, and Matthew Wolfe, 37, ran the San Diego-based website and were ordered to make the payments, along with porn actor Ruben Garcia, 31, according to the Union Tribune. The 22 women who filed the civil suit were not named. Each woman will receive up to $500,000.
The judge ordered the men to remove any videos featuring the women from their website and make efforts to ensure other websites removed the videos as well, the Union Tribune reported.
A criminal case against the three men and two women — Valerie Moser and Amberlyn Nored — not named in the civil case is pending, the Union Tribune reported. The five people were charged with sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion and could all face life in prison if convicted.
The Superior Court judge who made Thursday’s ruling pointed out that his ruling should not affect that case, as the burden of proof in criminal court is steeper than in civil court.
The scheme was relatively simple. The owners of GirlsDoPorn posted online advertisements asking for young models and promising to fly them to San Diego, Vice reported. But once the young women, between the ages of 17 and 22 at the time, arrived at the hotel they were made to film porn videos. The owners of GirlsDoPorn handed the women lengthy contracts, occasionally after giving them marijuana and alcohol, and threatened the women if they initially refused to sign.
Even after the contracts were signed, GirlsDoPorn’s operators assured the women that the videos would only be sold on DVDs to overseas clients and never appear on the internet, the Union Tribune reported. The owners then posted the videos on the internet.
Lawyers for the owners of GirlsDoPorn told the Union Tribune that they planned to appeal the decision once it was finalized.
Joseph Wilkinson is a breaking news reporter at the New York Daily News. He is from Pittsburgh and was previously an intern at Sports Illustrated.
The judge ruled that three men operating GirlsDoPorn had posted misleading Craigslist ads, forced the women to film porn videos against their will and assured them that the videos would never appear on the internet, the San Diego Union Tribune reported. The videos, of course, did appear on the internet, both on GirlsDoPorn’s own website and on popular free websites like Pornhub.com. The young women were then named in the video comment sections, and at least one considered suicide.
Michael Pratt, 36, and Matthew Wolfe, 37, ran the San Diego-based website and were ordered to make the payments, along with porn actor Ruben Garcia, 31, according to the Union Tribune. The 22 women who filed the civil suit were not named. Each woman will receive up to $500,000.
The judge ordered the men to remove any videos featuring the women from their website and make efforts to ensure other websites removed the videos as well, the Union Tribune reported.
A criminal case against the three men and two women — Valerie Moser and Amberlyn Nored — not named in the civil case is pending, the Union Tribune reported. The five people were charged with sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion and could all face life in prison if convicted.
The Superior Court judge who made Thursday’s ruling pointed out that his ruling should not affect that case, as the burden of proof in criminal court is steeper than in civil court.
The scheme was relatively simple. The owners of GirlsDoPorn posted online advertisements asking for young models and promising to fly them to San Diego, Vice reported. But once the young women, between the ages of 17 and 22 at the time, arrived at the hotel they were made to film porn videos. The owners of GirlsDoPorn handed the women lengthy contracts, occasionally after giving them marijuana and alcohol, and threatened the women if they initially refused to sign.
Even after the contracts were signed, GirlsDoPorn’s operators assured the women that the videos would only be sold on DVDs to overseas clients and never appear on the internet, the Union Tribune reported. The owners then posted the videos on the internet.
Lawyers for the owners of GirlsDoPorn told the Union Tribune that they planned to appeal the decision once it was finalized.
Joseph Wilkinson is a breaking news reporter at the New York Daily News. He is from Pittsburgh and was previously an intern at Sports Illustrated.
