REALITY TV
TV
MOVIES
MUSIC
CELEBRITY
About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use Accuracy & Fairness Corrections & Clarifications Ethics Code Your Ad Choices
© MEAWW All rights reserved
MEAWW.COM / NEWS / CRIME & JUSTICE

Michael James Pratt: GirlsDoPorn owner on FBI Most Wanted list arrested after being fugitive for 3 years

In September, Micheal Pratt was added to the FBI's Most Wanted list for suspected involvement in sex trafficking and the creation of child pornography
UPDATED DEC 24, 2022
Michael James Pratt was apprehended by law enforcement after using one of his well-known phony identities to check into a hotel in Madrid (FBI and Policía Nacional/Twitter screenshot)
Michael James Pratt was apprehended by law enforcement after using one of his well-known phony identities to check into a hotel in Madrid (FBI and Policía Nacional/Twitter screenshot)

MADRID, SPAIN: After being accused of a number of sex offenses connected to his GirlsDoPorn website three years ago, one of the FBI's top 10 most wanted fugitives was arrested in Spain on Wednesday, December 21. Michael James Pratt, a 40-year-old New Zealander, was apprehended by law enforcement after using one of his well-known phony identities to check into a hotel in Madrid. A video of the arrest was posted on Twitter on Friday, December 23, by Spain's National Police Corps. The FBI's top 10 most wanted suspects were not given names, but the agency did refer to Pratt as a "New Zealand fugitive." Pratt was arrested in Spain this week after being on the run for three years, as per Daily Beast. 

In September, Pratt was added to the FBI's list of the top 10 most wanted fugitives due to allegations that he was involved in child pornography production and sex trafficking. For information leading to his arrest on charges related to the two porn websites GirlsDoPorn and GirlsDoToys, the agency was offering a $100,000 prize.

READ MORE

GirlsDoPorn: Michael Pratt still missing as PornHub reaches settlement with victims

Who is Rae Lil Black? Internet in splits after b'day boy Samuel L Jackson allegedly LIKES X-rated video



 

In November 2019, a federal arrest warrant was issued for him. In addition to other accusations, he is accused of conspiring to traffic minors into sex by using coercion, fraud, and force as well as producing child pornography. “This was a despicable crime that has devastated its victims,” US Attorney Randy Grossman said in September when Pratt was added to the most wanted list. “Michael James Pratt preyed on young women and girls and allegedly coerced or forced them through threats and fraud to participate in pornographic videos,” Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy of the FBI’s San Diego Field Office added at the time. “He engages in dangerous and deceptive practices wherever he goes, and we will not waiver until justice is served," reported the Daily Beast.

According to the FBI, he and others allegedly conducted a conspiracy between 2012 and 2019 that aimed to enlist both young adult women and kids to participate in sex acts "by force, fraud, and coercion." Pratt and his accomplices are charged with defrauding women from the United States and Canada by posting ads for modeling jobs that the victims later discovered were actually pornographic photo shoots. Pratt allegedly employed other women to “act as references” and give victims “false assurances to the women that, if they filmed a pornographic video, the video would not be posted online," as per reports.

“Some women were allegedly not permitted to leave the shooting locations until the videos were completed, others were allegedly forced to perform sex acts they had declined to perform, and some women were allegedly sexually assaulted,” the FBI says, adding that Pratt’s pornography empire generated over $17 million in revenue.

One of Pratt's suspected collaborators, Ruben Garcia, an adult performer, and producer, had previously been detained. After entering a guilty plea to the counts of sex trafficking and conspiracy, he was given a 20-year term in June 2021. For his part in the GirlsDoPorn plot, Matthew Isaac Wolfe entered a guilty plea to a single count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking in July of this year. A San Diego judge awarded $22.775 million in compensatory and punitive damages to 22 unidentified victims in a civil complaint against the company in January 2019.

POPULAR ON MEAWW
MORE ON MEAWW