FBI Begins Process to Seize $1.2M in Bitcoin from GirlsDoPorn Boss

In brief FBI seized $51,533 in Bitcoin from Michael Pratt, arrested for sex trafficking related to his GirlsDoPorn website. Pratt deceptively recruited women for adult videos, promising privacy but publishing content online, generating $17 million in revenue. After becoming an FBI Most Wanted fugitive, Pratt was captured in Spain and located through the 2020 Ledger data breach. The FBI has seized $51,533 in Bitcoin from a wallet belonging to Michael Pratt, a New Zealand pornographer who was arrested in 2022 on charges related to sex trafficking. U.S. authorities submitted a forfeiture order against Pratt and accomplices in July 2024, with the filing including a request to seize three Bitcoin wallets that contained a total of 8.13 BTC. This amounts to $840,000 at today’s Bitcoin price, and according to a forfeiture notice posted by the FBI today, the agency has successfully taken 0.61096499 BTC of the total. A New Zealand national, Pratt had emigrated to the U.S. in 2009 and is reported to have operated the GirlsDoPorn website between 2007 and 2019. In October 2019, he was charged in absentia with sex trafficking crimes in the Southern District of California. The FBI added Pratt to its Ten Most Wanted list in early 2022, and was offering $50,000 to anyone who could provide information that would lead to his arrest. He was eventually arrested by local authorities in Spain in December 2022. He was then charged with 19 crimes, including sex trafficking, production of child pornography and conspiracy to launder money. He was extradited to the United States in March 2024. It was at that time that public court filings revealed the full extent and nature of his alleged crimes. He and his co-defendants are accused of using deception and coercion to recruit hundreds of young women, including one minor, to perform in GirlsDoPorn content. Recruited throughout the U.S. and Canada, the victims replied to ads for modelling jobs for clothing, but were later told that the work involved filmed adult content. Pratt and his co-defendants offered the victims assurances that the videos would be made available only via DVD to private buyers in Australia, and that they wouldn’t be posted online. The accused also told the women that filming—which took place mostly in San Diego —would be brief. But victims said shoots could take several hours, with some of the women being forced to perform acts for which they had not consented. And contrary to Pratt’s promises, he and his accomplices released clips of videos to popular adult websites, such as Pornhub, in order to drive traffic towards the full-length versions on GirlsDoPorn. The website is alleged to have earned over $17 million in revenue for Pratt via subscription fees, yet it was shut down in January 2020 after being ordered by a San Diego judge to pay $12.8 million in damages to 22 women. Pratt’s associates, including webmaster Matthew Isaac Wolfe and male performer Ruben Andre Garcia, have already pleaded guilty and been sentenced on charges related to their respective roles in the conspiracy. Pratt, however, has submitted a not guilty plea, and awaits the start of his trial in September. According to a Business Insider article, Pratt was ultimately located as a result of the 2020 Ledger hack, which revealed the personal details of over 200,000 of the French firm’s customers. This included Pratt, who had used his real name to have a Ledger wallet shipped to him at a hotel in Barcelona. Edited by Stacy Elliott. Daily Debrief Newsletter Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more. Source: https://decrypt.co/319048/fbi-begins-process-to-seize-1-2m-in-bitcoin-from-girlsdoporn-boss