Three years after fleeing federal sex-trafficking charges in California, the founder of a porn empire that coerced girls to film adult videos has finally been arrested in Spain.
FBI’s San Diego field office said in a statement Thursday that Michael James Pratt, 40, was arrested Wednesday in Madrid by the Spanish National Police.
Pratt is expected to be extradited to San Diego to face charges of sex trafficking and sex trafficking of a minor, child pornography production, and money laundering.
In 2019, Pratt and others were charged in San Diego with sex crimes after 22 women filed a civil lawsuit alleging that they were victimized by fraud and breach of contract on the now-defunct GirlsDoPorn website.
According to the lawsuit, the women alleged they were sexually assaulted and held in hotel rooms unwillingly until adult filming was over. They also claim to have been plied with alcohol and marijuana before signing a contract.
A judge awarded the women $12.7 million in damages against Pratt, Matthew Isaac Wolfe, and adult producer and performer Ruben Andre Garcia.
Earlier this year, Wolfe, in charge of the website’s daily management, financing, marketing, and filming, entered a guilty plea to a single federal count of conspiring to engage in sex trafficking. He is awaiting judgment.
The other defendants entered guilty pleas as well. Cameraman Theodore Gyi received a four-year sentence, while Garcia was given a 20-year sentence.
Last year, Valorie Moser, a former GirlsDoPorn bookkeeper, also entered a guilty plea.
