According to reports, the women were coerced and tricked into making porn videos for a website named GirlsDoPorn. They were promised that videos won’t be posted on any online channels.
They were however told that the videos were for a private collector or overseas DVDs and that the footage would go straight to DVD for wealthy buyers in other countries, in particular, Australia and New Zealand.
According to a Guardian report, the 22 women, known individually only as Jane Doe, alleged that GirlsDoPorn owners Michael James Pratt and Matthew Isaac Wolfe, lured them to San Diego to shoot sexually explicit content by posting Craigslist ads for the same.
The 22 women came from across the US to San Diego for the porn shoot. The women who tried to back out once it was clear what was involved, were threatened, forced to drink alcohol and told they would have to find their way home by themselves.
The women allege that Pratt and Wolfe also hired a woman, Amberlyn Nored, to pose as a “reference” to reassure them that the final product would not be posted online.
When the women involved in the scam found that their videos were leaked online, the producers and crew behind the GirlsDoPorn website continued to harass them to not take any action. They in fact, threatened them by trying to contact their friends and family to ensure they saw the videos.
During the court hearing, a US judge named, Judge Enright sided with the plaintiffs, ruling that the “fraudulent scheme” had led to the women experiencing significant emotional and reputation harm. The women were awarded Rs 67 cores in compensatory damages, and Rs 23 Crores in punitive damages.