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SAN DIEGO (CN) — The founder of GirlsDoPorn, a now-defunct porn site embroiled in a yearslong case involving multiple charges of coercion, sex trafficking and production of child pornography, changed his not guilty plea to guilty on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges in federal court on Thursday.
Michael James Pratt and other employees of the site were charged in 2019 for orchestrating a bait-and-switch scheme to coerce hundreds of young women to agree to shoot pornography after they responded to fake job listings for clothed modeling gigs.
The women claim they agreed to film porn after they were told the videos would never be published online. They were told the videos were for a private collector in Australia, or they would be sold as DVDs overseas.
But the videos were posted to the San Diego-based GirlsDoPorn website, with highlight clips posted on free websites like PornHub to drive traffic and subscriptions to Pratt’s site.
The site generated millions of dollars of funds from subscriptions and many of the videos were shot in San Diego where Pratt was charged in 2019 with 19 felonies including production of child pornography, sex trafficking of a minor and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
Pratt later fled the U.S. and was captured in Madrid by the Spanish National Police in 2022.
In early 2024, Pratt entered a not guilty plea after he was extracted back to the U.S.
On Thursday, Pratt appeared back in court to plead guilty to sex trafficking by force fraud and coercion and conspiracy to sex trafficking by force fraud and coercion. The mandatory minimum penalty for the sex trafficking charge is 15 years in prison. Both charges carry a maximum of life in prison, plus an order to pay restitution to his victims.
The agreement also calls for a minimum of five years to a lifetime of supervised release and a combined maximum $500,000 fine for both charges.
The agreement also mandates that Pratt be put on a sex offender registry.
“I think he wanted to acknowledge and accept responsibility for his actions,” said Brian J. White of the Law Office of Brian J White, Pratt’s attorney, after the hearing about why Pratt changed his plea. “It’s going to save a lot of people discomfort.”
Pratt is “apprehensive” about the sentencing process, he added.
In response to U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino, a George W. Bush appointee, asking him if he was satisfied with his legal counsel, Pratt said “somewhat.”
“As long as he can help me through the sentencing process. But nothing’s really been done since I’ve been here,” Pratt said.
As a citizen of New Zealand, Pratt acknowledged that his guilty plea could also mean he’ll be denied U.S. citizenship and be deported.
“I believe I’m just getting deported, I guess,” Pratt said when asked if he understood that section of his plea agreement.
Pratt’s sentencing hearing is set for September 9.
Pratt’s business partner, Matthew Isaac Wolfe, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking in 2022.
Sammartino sentenced Wolfe to 14 years in prison in 2024.
In 2021, a federal judge sentenced Theodore Wilfred Gyi, a cameraman who shot over 100 videos for GirlsDoPorn and its offshoot, GirlsDoToys, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.
In 2022, Gyi was sentenced to serve four years in prison. In March 2023, Sammartino ordered Gyi to pay more than $100,000 in restitution to two of his victims while in prison.
Ruben Andre Garcia, a male model who appeared in the company’s videos was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2021.
Valorie Moser, the company’s office manager, is set for sentencing on September 12.
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