An additional 10 women have joined a federal lawsuit filed against Pornhub’s parent company for allegedly hosting videos produced by former San Diego-based website GirlsDoPorn.com, whose owners and operators are facing federal sex trafficking charges.
The amended complaint filed Thursday in San Diego federal court against Montreal-based MindGeek — the original complaint was filed last December — now includes 50 plaintiffs identified as Jane Does 1 through 50.
The plaintiffs allege MindGeek owns and operates a multitude of pornographic sites that have hosted videos featuring the women, and that it maintained its business relationship with GirlsDoPorn even as the site came under scrutiny for allegations of videos made through coercion and fraud.
MindGeek did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the lawsuit.
A half-dozen people associated with GirlsDoPorn have been charged by federal authorities in connection with alleged sex trafficking. Two of those defendants — porn actor Ruben Andre Garcia and cameraman Theodore Wilfred Gyi – – have pleaded guilty and await sentencing, while GirlsDoPorn co-creator Michael James Pratt remains at large.
Additionally, 22 women sued GirlsDoPorn’s owners and operators, alleging they were coerced to film pornographic videos or led to believe their videos would only be distributed to private owners, rather than proliferated online on GirlsDoPorn’s subscription website, as well as numerous free sites. The women were awarded nearly $13 million by a San Diego Superior Court judge.
The federal complaint alleges Mindgeek was aware of the sex trafficking venture as early as 2009 because victims sent MindGeek complaints detailing the site operators’ activities.
The lawsuit alleges MindGeek’s business partnership with GirlsDoPorn continued through late 2019 and only ended because GirlsDoPorn ceased to exist amid the Department of Justice’s sex trafficking investigation.
“Mindgeek knew it was partnering with, distributing revenue to, and profiting from a sex trafficking venture for years,” the complaint alleges. “MindGeek also knew of the significant harassment and trauma GirlsDoPorn’s victims were enduring as a result of its continued publication of the victims’ videos. MindGeek simply did not care and continued to partner with GirlsDoPorn until it was no longer profitable.”
–City News Service