Girls Do Porn Operator Is On the FBI’s Most Wanted List

The FBI is offering as much as $10,000 for information leading to his location and arrest of Michael Pratt, the Girls Do Porn ringleader who's now on the FBI's Most Wanted list.

The announcement, made last week, is the latest escalation in the FBI's attempts to find Pratt, after he fled the U.S. in the middle of a civil trial where he and his associates were accused by 22 women of fraud and being coerced into having sex in videos that were later sold online. In January, the FBI declared him a wanted fugitive. 

Pratt led Girls Do Porn, an adult website that investigators found forced and manipulated several women, at least one underage, into having sex on camera under the pretense that their videos would never be seen outside of private buyers in New Zealand. The videos went viral, and in addition to the abuses at the hands of Pratt and his co-conspirators, many endured years of harassment in their own communities.

Pratt is suspected to have fled the country—possibly to his native New Zealand, although he has connections around the world—sometime during the civil trial in 2019. In December, the court ordered Girls Do Porn pay the 22 women $12.7 million in damages. When he disappeared, Pratt left his cat behind, hiring a pet sitter to check in daily on the San Diego area residence he abandoned.  

"Pratt allegedly paid other young women working at his direction to act as references or provide false assurances to the women that, if they filmed a video, the video would not be posted online," the reward announcement states. "Some ​women were not permitted to leave the shooting locations until the videos were made ​and ​others were allegedly forced to perform certain sex acts they had declined to do. Allegedly, some of the women were sexually assaulted. ​Pratt's pornography websites generated more than $17 million U.S. dollars in revenue."

In January, a 23rd victim came forward with a lawsuit against Girls Do Porn, alleging similar abuses as the original 22 Jane Does. “The men placed their camera equipment in front of the hotel room door and were yelling at her as she was locked in a hotel room demanding that she hurry up and sign the contract,” said the woman’s attorney, Loren Washburn, according to NBC 7 in San Diego.

Twenty-three women are probably only scratching the surface of the scope of harm Pratt and his conspirators have done; lawyers for the 22 women who first sued Girls Do Porn told Motherboard they've spoken to at least 100 more women who had similarly abusive experiences with the company throughout the seven years they were in operation.

The FBI is asking anyone with information about Pratt's whereabouts to contact the local FBI office or their nearest American Embassy or Consulate.