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Pratt, who was the owner of the website GirlsDoPorn, was charged in October 2019 in the Southern District of California with sex trafficking crimes in connection with a scheme to deceive and coerce young women to appear in pornographic videos. Pratt liquidated his assets and fled the United States in mid-2019. He was named to the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted list and lived as an international fugitive for more than three years until his arrest in Spain in December 2022 and extradition to San Diego in March 2024.

According to public court filings, Pratt and his co-defendants used force, fraud, and coercion to recruit hundreds of young women – most in their late teens – to appear in GirlsDoPorn videos. In his plea agreement, Pratt pleaded guilty to Count One (conspiracy to sex traffic from 2012 to 2019) and Count Two (Sex trafficking Victim 1 in May 2012) of the superseding indictment.

In connection with Count 1, Pratt admitted the following:

He was the owner and operator of the pornography website GirlsDoPorn, which featured sex videos of young adult women appearing in their first pornographic video. Pratt came up with the idea for the website, recruited women to appear in the videos, sometimes transported the women to and from the site of the video shoot, sometimes manned the camera for the videos, and otherwise managed the business.

In around 2012, Pratt recruited his co-defendant Matthew Wolfe to work for him. Wolfe operated GirlsDoPorn and GirlsDoToys (an offshoot of GirlsDoPorn which featured many of the same women appearing in pornographic videos with sex toys). The two websites were run by Pratt as a single business venture. Both websites were supported by the same employees operating out of a shared office in San Diego.

Throughout the conspiracy, GirlsDoPorn and GirlsDoToys received millions of views. To promote the websites, video content from both sites was posted on free porn sites such as Pornhub.com, one of the world’s most visited websites. The videos from GirlsDoPorn and GirlsDoToys posted on PornHub were often viewed millions of times according to PornHub’s own view counters. The websites charged visitors a subscription fee to access content, and generated millions of dollars in revenue for Pratt.

To recruit young women to appear in videos for the websites, Pratt and some of his employees (at Pratt’s direction) often told the prospective models that their sex videos would never be posted on-line, that the videos would never be released in the United States, and that no one who knew the women would ever find out about the video, representations that Pratt and other members of the conspiracy knew were false. Women from various places throughout the United States and Canada were recruited to appear in videos based on these material misrepresentations.

In 2013, Pratt recruited co-defendant Ruben Andre Garcia. the male model who engaged in sex acts on video with the women. As a part of the scheme, Garcia found young women (“Reference Girls”) to falsely reassure prospective models that the videos would not be posted on-line and that none of the models’ friends, families, colleagues or classmates would ever find out. Garcia used the Reference Girls, because he believed that the victims were more likely to believe other young women. Pratt knew about the Reference Girls and paid them a fee for each model that they attempted to recruit.

As a part of the scheme, Pratt and other members of the conspiracy took steps to ensure that the victims did not find out that Pratt and the other members of the conspiracy owned and operated GirlsDoPorn and GirlsDoToys. These steps included the intentional omission of any reference to the websites in statements that Pratt and others made to prospective models and in company names and documents, including the contracts that the prospective models signed. The business was instead often identified by innocuous names, such as “Begin Modeling,” “Bubblegum Casting” or “BLL Media.”

Most of the sex videos created as part of the conspiracy were shot at hotels or short term rental units in the San Diego area. Pratt, Wolfe or co-defendant Theodore Gyi served as the camera men for these video shoots.

Once the women arrived at the hotel or short term rental unit, Pratt, Garcia, Wolfe and/or Gyi continued to falsely assure the women that the videos would not be posted on-line and that no one who knew the victims would find out. The women were told that the contracts simply said what the women had already been told, including that the videos would not be posted on-line. Women were not provided with a copy of the contracts that they signed, even though some of them asked for copies.

If the women told Pratt or his co-conspirators that they wanted to stop making the video, Pratt or his co-conspirators threatened to sue the women, cancel flights home, and post the videos on-line if the women did not complete the sex videos.

Pratt became aware that personal identifying information and social media accounts for some models were being posted on Pornwikileaks.com, a site dedicated to exposing the true identities of individuals appearing in sex videos. Even after Pratt became aware of this, Pratt instructed his employees to assure prospective models that no one would ever find out about their video shoot or learn their identity.

In connection with Count 2, Pratt admitted the following:

In May 2012, Pratt, using the alias “Matt,” recruited Victim 1. The original Craigslist advertisement was for modeling, and it was posted under the name Bubblegum Casting. Victim 1 responded to the ad and communicated with Pratt. Pratt explained that the job was actually to shoot an “adult video.” Pratt falsely assured Victim 1 that her video would only be seen in Australia by private clients and would not be posted on the internet. Victim 1 was 18 years old at the time of these conversations.

Victim 1 initially declined, but Pratt referred her to a Reference Girl to convince Victim 1 to do the video and reassure Victim 1 that her video would not be posted on-line. Relying upon assurances by Pratt and the Reference Girl, Victim 1 flew from a state outside of California to San Diego for the video shoot. Pratt picked Victim 1 up at the airport and drove her to a hotel in San Diego. Pratt operated the camera. He directed and filmed the sex video.

Prior to making the video, Pratt rushed Victim 1 through a contract and did not provide her with a copy. Pratt had promised Victim 1 that the video would take 30 minutes, but it took hours to film. Once the video was done, Pratt gave Victim 1 $2,000.

Victim 1’s video was posted on GirlsDoPorn approximately nine months after the shoot. Victim 1 contacted Pratt after her video was posted to the GirlsDoPorn website and begged Pratt to take her video down. Pratt did not reply and did not take the video down.

Garcia was sentenced to 20 years in prison on June 14, 2021. Theodore Gyi was sentenced to four years in prison on November 9, 2022. Matthew Wolfe was sentenced to 14 years in prison on March 20, 2024. Valorie Moser, the office manager, is set for sentencing on September 12, 2025.

Pratt’s sentencing is scheduled for September 8, 2025, at 9 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Janis L. Sammartino.

DEFENDANTS Case Number 19cr4488-JLS

Michael Pratt Age: 42 To be sentenced September 8, 2025

Matthew Wolfe Age: 43 Sentenced to 14 years on March 20, 2024

Ruben Andre Garcia Age: 36 Sentenced to 20 years on June 4, 2021

Theodore Gyi Age: 47 Sentenced to 4 years on November 9, 2022

Valorie Moser Age: 42 To be sentenced on September 12, 2025

SUMMARY OF CHARGES

Sex Trafficking Conspiracy – Title 18, U.S.C., Section 1594

Maximum penalty: Life in prison and $250,000 fine

Sex Trafficking – Title 18, U.S.C., Section 1591

Mandatory Minimum: Fifteen years in prison

Maximum penalty: Life in prison and $250,000 fine

INVESTIGATING AGENCY

Federal Bureau of Investigation