PornHub owner MindGeek is being sued for $80 million by 40 women who say the site profited from ‘sex trafficking’ operation GirlsDoPorn.
In a complaint filed Tuesday in , the alleged victims say MindGeek ‘knew it was partnering with and profiting from a sex trafficking venture for years’.
A judge found in January that the owners and operators GirlsDoPorn must pay $12.7 million for lying to women about how their explicit videos would be distributed.
The fresh lawsuit, filed this week, states: ‘MindGeek also knew of the significant harassment and trauma GirlsDoPorn’s victims were enduring by its continued publication of the victims’ videos’ but ‘simply did not care’.It claims the site ‘continued to partner with GirlsDoPorn until it was no longer profitable’.
PornHub, whose parent company is Montreal-based MindGeek, was this week forced to crack down on its unverified users following a New York Times report which said it was profiting from videos of child sexual exploitation, rape and revenge porn.
Even after the videos were flagged and removed, downloaded copies continued to circulate, often with severe personal consequences, the paper said.
Pornhub, which attracted 42 billion views in 2019, said that it doesn’t knowingly allow images of sexual abuse of children but was forced to remove more than 10 million unverified videos – the majority of its content – Monday.
Credit card companies Visa, Mastercard and Discover have since blocked their customers from making purchases on Pornhub.
PornHub owner MindGeek is being sued for $80 million by 40 women who say the site profited from ‘sex trafficking’ operation GirlsDoPorn
These latest allegations, first reported by , now say its parent company knew GirlsDoPorn was ‘using fraud, coercion, and intimidation as early as 2009, and definitely by fall 2016’ but continued to work with them until 2019.
‘If MindGeek did not know GirlsDoPorn was a sex trafficking venture before October 2019, it should have known for a great number of reasons,’ the lawsuit adds.
‘The most notable of which is that GirlsDoPorn’s victims sent MindGeek complaints detailing the fraud and coercion they were subjected to by GirlsDoPorn. If you have any inquiries regarding where and how to use como empezar un xxx porn, you can contact us at the site. ‘
PornHub, whose parent company is Montreal-based MindGeek, was this week forced to crack down on its unverified users following a New York Times report
It is alleged MindGeek ‘still hosts victims’ videos on its websites, including Plaintiffs’ as of December this year, adding that they have ‘suffered damages including, but not limited to, severe emotional distress, significant trauma, attempted suicide, and social and familial ostracization.’
The lawsuit adds: ‘Further, MindGeek has received ill-gotten gains by selling, marketing and exploiting videos featuring the Plaintiffs’ likenesses.’
MindGeek has not commented on the claims.
GirlsDoPorn owner Michael Pratt is on the run and remains on the FBI most wanted list
In January of this year records show a judge found the owners and operators of San Diego-based GirlsDoPorn must pay $12.7 million for lying to women about how their explicit videos would be distributed.
In that case GirlsDoPorn, was sued by nearly two dozen women who claimed they were deceived and coerced into making sex videos without knowing the footage would be posted on the internet.
Among the defendants in the January ruling were website owners Michael James Pratt, 36, and Matthew Isaac Wolfe, 37, and adult film actor Ruben Andre Garcia, 31.
Garica pleaded guilty to sex trafficking and is set to be sentenced; Wolfe is awaiting trial, records show; Pratt is on the run and remains on the FBI most wanted list.
At trial, defense attorneys argued that the big sexy women xxx were over 18, understood what they were doing, accepted payment and in some cases returned to San Diego again and again to make more videos.
The plaintiff’s attorneys said the videos were not immediately posted on the internet and defendants later refused requests to take down the films.
Some of the women testified that although they accepted performing sex on camera to earn money, including paying for college, the subsequent publicity ruined their lives and careers.