Some women came to think about suicide, after the GirlsDoPorn page convinced them to record pornographic videos and ignored the promise of not uploading them to the internet Credit: Shutterstock
They were promised that
porn videos They will not be uploaded to the internet, but will be delivered to a private collector or DVDs will be sold for a limited period abroad. But this was not the case, which led some of those affected to think about suicide.
Now, a US judge sentenced this week to
GirlsDoPorn, the company that deceived 22 women, to
pay them a total of US $ 12.8 million.
This is determined by the failure of 181 pages in which it is explained that
the victims were between 18 and 23 years old When they recorded the videos. All agreed after being assured that they will not be uploaded to the network for mass consumption.
Nevertheless,
the recordings ended up being part of the GirlsDoPorn offer, an amateur porn website to which one can subscribe under payment. Fragments of the videos were also shared on some of the most popular free websites in the sector.
Those convicted are 36-year-old GirlsDoPorn executive director Michael Pratt; videographer Matthew Wolfe, 37, and porn actor Rubn Garca, 31.
Kevin Enright, judge of the Superior Court of San Diego, ordered them to remove those videos from the website and start taking steps to have them removed from other portals.
At the trial, the defense claimed that the women were of legal age, that they knew what they were doing, that they had accepted money and that, in some cases, they had even returned to San Diego, where GirlsDoPorn had its headquarters, to record more videos, according to the Los Angeles Times.
GirlsDoPorn is promoted under the premise that the women in their videos are not professional porn actresses.
Although the GirlsDoPorn site promises that the videos will be private, they ended up published online without the girls' consent, which brought them multiple family problems, harassment, etc. Credit: Shutterstock
"One time only"
GirlsDoPorn is promoted by saying that the women of its website record a porn video for the first time and that many of them are students who need extra money, as recorded in the court file.
For this exclusivity, the page requires a constant flow of new models to update the content.
The San Diego court ruled that
GirlsDoPorn used fraudulent practices to recruit new youth, including taking "calculated steps to falsely assure potential models that their videos will never end up on the Internet, that they will not come to light in the United States or that anyone who could know them will see them."
The people in charge of the page had also assured them that their real names would never be linked to the videos.
However, the trial showed evidence that the defendants had shared private and identifying information on the models in third-party forums, which led to
situations of harassment by the network towards them and their relatives.
Complex contracts
In an attempt to recruit new youth, GirlsDoPorn persuaded others who had already participated to send reassuring text messages to potential models who were worried that their videos would end up on the internet.
On the day of the recording, women were given alcohol and cannabis before asking them to sign an eight-page contract.
Enright issued a payment of US $ 9.48 million for compensatory damages and US $ 3.3 million for punitive damages for the 22 young women. Each one corresponds between US $ 300,000 and US $ 550,000.
As he said, friends and family of the victims learned about the videos due to the tactics used by the GirlsDoPorn managers.
"As a result, the plaintiffs suffered and continue to suffer far-reaching and often tragic consequences," the magistrate wrote.
"Collectively, they have experienced severe harassment, emotional and psychological trauma and damage to their reputation; job losses, academic and professional opportunities and family and personal relationships; and their lives have been derailed and uprooted," he continued.
"They have become outcasts in their communities. Several plaintiffs have become suicidal."
Enright gave both parties 15 days to appeal.
"My heart is crying for them"
The defendants also face criminal charges filed in federal court in October. The accusation in these cases are the same as in the civil case they just lost and could condemn them to spend the rest of their days in prison, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Wolfe and Garca are currently in federal custody; but Pratt is a fugitive who is believed to be in New Zealand, his country of origin.
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