Women who said porn site coerced them into videos awarded $12.7 million by CA judge
A San Diego, California judge has ruled in favor of the 22 women who sued the people behind GirlsDoPorn, saying they were lied to and coerced into making adult videos.
The women filed a class-action lawsuit in 2016 against GirlsDoPorn owners Michael James Pratt, 36, and Matthew Isaac Wolfe, 37, and porn actor Ruben Andre Garcia, 31, claiming they had been lied to and were told the sex films they made would not be posted on the internet, according to the case decision.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Kevin Enright found evidence of fraud and ruled that the defendants took “considerable, calculated steps to falsely assure prospective models that their videos will never be posted online, come to light in the United States, or be seen by anyone who might know them.” Enright awarded the women nearly $13 million in damages.
The decision also states that other women were hired by GirlsDoPorn to act as “references” and “provide new recruits with false comfort that the experience is safe and enjoyable.”
Enright ordered GirlsDoPorn to take down the women’s videos, take steps to have the women’s videos removed on other websites, and to post in all future ads that they would be posted online. He also awarded the women the rights to their own images and videos.
“They’ve all been sort of crying joyfully,” John O’Brien, an attorney for the women told The Daily Beast. “They’re so relieved, thanking us many times over— just overjoyed with the result. We’re going to do everything we can to get their images down and to get these guys to stop practicing the way they were.”
One woman, Jane Doe 15, testified that she had agreed to film a video after seeing an ad on Craigslist but had been told that it would be for DVDs in Australia or the UK and wouldn’t go online. She said she was reassured by a “reference” woman that no one in the US would see the video. Once she arrived in San Diego for the shoot, she said she was rushed through signing paperwork, was offered marijuana, and eventually paid $2,000 less than their agreed amount. She said she later found out through text that she was paid less because she was “pale and bruised.”
Jane Doe 15 said that after the video went up, she was quickly identified by people at her school and that her family had found the film. She said that she was harassed by strangers on social media and by text and that she was kicked off her cheerleading team.
In October, the creators and employees of GirlsDoPorn were also charged for sex trafficking by force, coercion, and fraud and could face a minimum of 15 years in prison if convicted, according to a release by the US Department of Justice.
Pratt, who is a resident of New Zealand, left the country and has also been charged with creating child pornography in 2012 involving a 16-year-old girl, according to the LA Times.
