SAN DIEGO—Michael Pratt, the ringleader of the GirlsDoPorn sex trafficking scheme, was sentenced to 27 years in prison by a federal judge in San Diego on Monday. Pratt, 42, was sentenced on one charge of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion.
During sentencing, U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino of the Southern District of California allowed for victims of Pratt's scheme to deliver impact statements. More than three dozen of his victims confronted Pratt in the courtroom, notes court reporter Alex Riggins of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
“We meet again,” one victim said to his face. “But this time it’s you who cannot leave.”
Pratt's GirlsDoPorn network of sites masqueraded as a legitimate porn website for newcomers to the industry in a casting couch setting. Victims were recruited with false promises of various modeling jobs and claims that videos produced were for overseas collectors and that they were never going to be published to internet audiences.
It was later revealed that Pratt and his co-conspirators engaged in unlawful conduct, including the trafficking of young women who were coerced into scenes through blackmail, threats of violence and doxxing. GirlsDoPorn garnered millions of views on platforms like Pornhub.com.
Itself a subject of a criminal investigation that ended in a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, Pornhub's corporate parent, Aylo, accepted responsibility for its role in the distribution of the GirlsDoPorn scenes and other websites linked to the flagship, including MomPOV.
Of those who offered victim impact statements, one of the survivors of Pratt's criminal activity forgave him. Riggins' account of the sentencing hearing, however, notes that most who shared statements with the court "unleashed years of pent-up anger."
Many asked Judge Sammartino to sentence Pratt to the possible maximum bid in prison. And it appears she did. Sammartino's sentence for Pratt, who entered a guilty plea earlier this year, was five years longer than what federal prosecutors asked the court to levy, and that was above federal sentencing guidelines.
Pratt is the final defendant in the GirlsDoPorn case to plead guilty and be sentenced after years of protracted litigation and criminal investigation. In 2019, Pratt fled the U.S. to avoid arrest, ultimately being placed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 10 Most Wanted list alongside terrorists and drug cartel leaders.
As AVN reported previously, Pratt was arrested by the Spanish National Police in December 2022 while he was allegedly visiting Madrid, Spain. He was later extradited to the United States. Then he first appeared at a San Diego federal court in March 2024. Pratt initially chose a plea of not guilty, which was entered on his behalf.
“The reality is that he lied to these women, knowing full well he was going to blow up their lives,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sasha Foster told the court.
Survivors of the Pratt-led scheme have lost jobs, family, friends, and their stability. One high-profile example featured the woman formerly known as Kristy Althaus having to change her name due to stalkers and harassment, even after she legally changed her name to protect her and her family's privacy.
“My interaction with you wasn’t hours or days or months, it was years of terrorism,” Althaus told Pratt in her impact statement, via 404 Media's reporting. GirlsDoPorn victims, including Althaus, have filed as Jane Does in several civil suits against Aylo.
