GirlsDoPorn owner Michael Pratt was sentenced to 27 years in prison yesterday after pleading guilty to sex trafficking charges. Pratt, who spent several years as a fugitive before being arrested in Spain and extradited to the US, pleaded guilty in June to a charge of sex trafficking by force, fraud, and coercion, and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.
"Pratt, the owner and operator of GirlsDoPorn.com and GirlsDoToys.com, built a multimillion-dollar criminal empire by luring young women into pornography through lies, coercion, and manipulation, and then broadcasting their abuse to millions online," the US Department of Justice said yesterday after the sentencing in US District Court for the Southern District of California.
The DOJ said Pratt "exploited hundreds of women," and that 40 of them spoke at the sentencing hearing. Pratt, 42, faced a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison.
At the sentencing hearing, women "describ[ed] their ordeals in San Diego hotel rooms where they were exploited, coerced, raped, abused and trapped," the DOJ said, adding that most of the victims were 18 to 21 years old when they were exploited by Pratt's enterprise.
One woman was quoted as telling Pratt, "You are evil. You are a predator. You are a rapist. This is who you are. Your ego was too big to believe you'd ever get caught but karma comes around. It is your turn now to suffer."
Judge “never had a case like this before”
US District Judge Janis Sammartino told Pratt before handing down the sentence, "I've been doing this a very long time and I've never had a case like this before, of this magnitude... The sheer scope and magnitude of this offense causes this court to vary upward."
The sentence also includes 10 years of supervised release. A restitution hearing is scheduled for November 7. The crimes Pratt pleaded guilty to require registration as a sex offender.
The judge gave Pratt a longer sentence than the US government recommended. The government's sentencing memorandum asked for 260 months (21 years and eight months).
"For almost a decade, the Defendant led the scheme to systematically coerce and defraud women into engaging in filmed sexual activity for profit," the sentencing recommendation said. "A sentence of 260 months is warranted, given the longevity of the scheme, the amount of profit, and the extent of the damage to the victims."
Pratt's plea agreement limited his rights to appeal the sentencing, but said he "may appeal a custodial sentence above 260 months." The 27-year (324-month) sentence exceeds that. While the government agreed to recommend no more than 260 months, the plea agreement said the government "may support on appeal the sentence or restitution order actually imposed."
Pratt fled the US in 2019, shortly before being charged with sex-trafficking crimes. "He was named to the FBI's 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," the DOJ said.
Pratt tried to minimize his role
Pratt is the fourth person to be sentenced in the GirlsDoPorn case. Pratt's business partner, Matthew Wolfe, received 14 years. Ruben Andre Garcia was sentenced to 20 years, and Theodore Gyi was sentenced to four years. Defendant Valorie Moser is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday this week.
Pratt's sentencing memorandum tried to minimize his role in the conspiracy. "Circa 2014, Mr. Pratt's childhood friend, Matt Wolfe, took over as the cameraman and Mr. Pratt spent more time in the office doing post-production work and other business related activities," the filing said.
Pratt argued that Garcia exhibited "erratic and unpredictable" behavior and that "much of this conduct occurred outside of Mr. Pratt's presence." Pratt's filing said he should not receive a sentence as long as Garcia's.
Garcia "was a rapist," Pratt's filing said. "Mr. Pratt had no involvement in Garcia's sexual activities with the models before or after filming, nor did he condone it. When he received some complaints about Garcia's behavior, Mr. Pratt took precautions to ensure the safety of the models, including setting up nanny video cameras, securing hotel incidental refrigerators, and ensuring everyone left the hotel as a group."
The government's sentencing memorandum described Pratt as "the ringleader in a wide-ranging sex-trafficking conspiracy during which many women were defrauded into engaging in sex acts on camera, destroying many of their lives." The "scheme would never have occurred" if not for Pratt's actions, "and hundreds of women would not have been victimized," the government filing said.
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