A former pageant queen has filed a new complaint against Pornhub and its parent company, MindGeek, which changed its name to Aylo in August, saying that she was forced to film pornography and was raped.
Kristy Althaus is suing the porn industry for allowing videos from GirlsDoPorn.com, a defunct porn website founded by former FBI Most Wanted fugitive Michael James Pratt, to circulate online after her title as 2021 Miss Teen Colorado was stripped away due to a leaked pornography video.
“Threatened, coerced, and physically and sexually assaulted, Plaintiff was forced to succumb to the demands of the GirlsDoPorn sex trafficking venture, entirely sustained by MindGeek’s vast online network,” the federal lawsuit filed on Sept. 8 states.
The lawsuit claims that Althaus pursued a paid modelling assignment after placing second in 2013, and GirlsDoPorn flew her to San Diego for “one photoshoot (sic)” as a result. She was then 18 years old.
“Rather than the mere headshots and clothing photoshoot (sic) that she had agreed to fly to San Diego to do, Pratt began demanding that Plaintiff film nude and sexually explicit videos. When Plaintiff refused, Pratt, now 41, and his conspirators immediately pressured her and plied her with booze and pills to soften her reluctance,” the lawsuit states.
Pratt allegedly grabbed Althaus’ mobile during the filming and returned it to her only later, according to the complaint.
Michael Isaac Wolfe, a co-conspirator with Pratt in the GirlsDoPorn organisation, acknowledged pressuring roughly 100 “models” between the ages of 18 and 23 into filming pornographic clips for their San Diego-based website, which he claimed would not be distributed in the country. In October 2019, GirlsDoPorn was shut down by the government.
Wolfe acknowledged publishing those videos for public viewing on the American website GirlsDoPorn. In addition, he claimed that he taught co-defendant and cameraman Theodore Gyi how to shoot the movies, instructing him in the proper way to inform the women in the videos that they would not be made public.
Wolfe also acknowledged that Pratt ran a website called Pornwikileaks.com that contained contact information and social media accounts for several of the videotaped women. The DOJ stated in a press statement from last year that the website was devoted to disclosing the real identities of the women who appeared in those sex videos, “exposing the victims to severe harassment.”
While allegedly compelling Althaus to record the pornographic video in a San Diego hotel room, Pratt, Wolfe, and two other men were there. According to the complaint, Althaus was “in fear for her life” at the time.
“Unfortunately, GirlsDoPorn had posted the first video of Plaintiff on MindGeek’s network, and the video became wildly successful. MindGeek and GirlsDoPorn generated millions of dollars from Plaintiff’s video,” the complaint states. They also allegedly promoted the video by referring to Althaus as “Miss Teen Colorado” in the video.
After the video went public, Althaus reportedly lost her Miss Teen Colorado runner-up title.
The “number one priority” of Aylo, formerly MindGeek, according to a statement to Fox News Digital is the “safety” of its members.
“[W]e are proud to have instituted Trust and Safety policies that surpass those of any other major user-generated platform on the internet. Our compliance program has helped us set the standard for the tech industry, and we are committed to remaining at the forefront of this important area,” Aylo said. “Out of respect for the integrity of court proceedings, our policy is not to comment on ongoing litigation. We look forward to the facts being fully and fairly aired in that forum.”
Althaus started her first year of college soon after the first video was shot. Pratt allegedly used threats and extortion throughout that time to coerce her into recording additional porn for GirlsDoPorn. Pratt allegedly intimidated Althaus with a revolver and coerced her into having oral sex with him, according to the lawsuit.
“Despite its actual or constructive knowledge that GirlsDoPorn used force, fraud, and coercion to film young women in pornographic videos, MindGeek continued to offer its global platform, internet distribution channels, and financial lifeline to the GirlsDoPorn criminal enterprise for over a decade,” Althaus’ lawsuit states.
Pratt is charged with taking part in a plot to employ coercion, deception, and force to enlist young girls and women in commercial sex activities. He allegedly accomplished this by informing the women and girls that they would receive between $3,000 and $5,000 for participating in a one-day pornographic video shoot. However, in certain cases, the FBI alleges that Pratt and his assistants forced some women to perform sex acts that they had first refused to undertake and allegedly kept women in rooms while the explicit tapes were being made.
According to the lawsuit, GirlsDoPorn even “went so far as to hire actresses to pose as previous models and assure new recruits of their privacy and security. These paid ‘references’ provided prospective models with false comfort that the experience was safe and enjoyable, and that the fake references’ videos had never appeared online or been discovered by anyone in the references’ lives”
As a result of “repeatedly being followed and harassed,” Althaus “has been unable to maintain a job or healthy relationships,” the lawsuit claims.
“As recently as May-June 2023, Plaintiff was assaulted at her home by a self-described Pornhub subscriber who confronted her about the recent removal of the subject videos from Defendants’ websites,” the complaint states. “The subscriber did not act alone and was with other male individuals terrifying Plaintiff.”
“Plaintiff fears for her life and safety, as well as the lives and safety of people close to her,” the complaint continues.
Althaus is one of several victims who have made comparable claims against GirlsDoPorn and online publications like Pornhub that promoted the now-defunct website’s content and “generated millions of dollars in revenue,” according to the lawsuit.
After years of evading capture, Pratt was apprehended in Spain last year.
On August 17, MindGeek’s name was changed to Aylo.
“Our goal is for ‘Aylo’ to be synonymous with our core principles: innovation, diverse and inclusive adult content, and trust and safety. We wanted a fresh start, so we opted for a name that gave us that freedom so that our team and our new owners could define it how we want,” Aylo management said in a statement last month. “Thank you to all employees for their unwavering commitment over the years and for their valuable input throughout this rebranding process.”
