An amateur pornography site, reportedly created by New Zealand man Michael J Pratt, is said to have “irreparably” damaged the lives of 22 women, US court documents show.
Documents from the San Diego Superior Court in California detailed the exchanges between Pratt, the chief executive, his colleagues Andre Garcia, a representative, and actor, and Matthew Wolfe, a representative and videographer, and 14 plaintiffs from 2013 to 2016.
One plaintiff, referred to as Jane Doe Number 11, responded to a modeling advertisement on Craigslist in March 2016 and was allegedly offered US$5000 (NZ$7919) to film an adult video.
The ads turned out to be from producers behind the Girls Do Porn website, who was looking for women to make so-called amateur porn. Some women who responded to the ads said they were directed to innocuous websites, with pictures of clothed women, that asked for their contact information and photographs.
The distribution of the film was called into question by all plaintiffs detailed in the document. Jane Doe 11 was assured, “the video was for DVD in Australia only”.
“They assured her there was nothing to worry about, promised her privacy and said nobody she knew would see the videos,” the document reads.
The plaintiff traveled to San Diego from Knoxville, Tennessee and made a video in a San Diego hotel room. The document claimed the film was produced without legal permits, Pratt’s name was often used to book hotel rooms in San Diego, and his credit card was usually used to pay for airfares.
Before filming began, documents were presented to the women, but Jane Doe 11 claimed the defendants “did not allow her to thoroughly read” them, while others claimed they were distracted when trying to read them.
Lawyers for the defendants said the women were presented with contracts, which they ultimately signed, that said the videos they made could be “used anywhere, anyhow, for any purpose”.
This was a common theme among the accounts of 14 plaintiffs. Once the women – described in the documents as coming from “good families”, many of whom were funding their education – were “confined to the hotel room”, they were allegedly coerced into signing the contracts.
Two months after filming, Jane Doe 11’s video was released online on Girls Do Porn and circulated to numerous other websites without her knowledge.
The plaintiff’s personal information, including her full name and contact details, were then reportedly leaked to other websites accessed by “fans” and “subscribers” in the months following. In the case of Jane Doe 11, this resulted in her being harassed on social media, through text messages, and over the phone. She reportedly “became depressed and debated suicide several times”.
Other plaintiffs were stalked, bullied or blackmailed by “fans” of the website and members of the online forums where their details were shared.
The court document read: “Months to years after the videos, many are still harassed by strangers on the Internet. And almost all have suffered severe psychological and emotional damage – some have even considered suicide.”
The women were seeking $US22 million ($NZ34.8m) in damages from the people involved with making the videos. They also wanted their videos removed from the website.
In a separate document responding to the complaints, the three defendants denied all allegations and claimed the plaintiffs “consented to and approved all alleged acts and omissions”.
The trio was facing 12 cause of actions including intentional misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, false promise, negligent misrepresentation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of contract, and fraudulent transfer.
The trial started last week.
Source - Stuff
