SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The latest development in the ongoing GirlsDoPorn civil trial is the introduction of a single model by the company's defense trying to provide a counter-narrative to the parade of young women claiming they were defrauded and told their videos would not be posted online.
Tara Burns, the only model produced by the defense in the civil lawsuit brought against the company for fraud by 22 young women, is a much older model who only shot for associated MILF site MomPOV.com.
As Bianca Bruno — the Courthouse News journalist who has provided in-depth coverage of the San Diego trial — reported, Burns testified yesterday that, unlike the 22 Jane Does suing GirlsDoPorn’s Michael Pratt and his associates, she was aware that the videos would be posted online.
Burns, however, was not an inexperienced performer recruited via classifieds sites like Craigslist to be flown to San Diego to shoot with Andre Garcia, the Pratt associate currently facing separate federal charges of sex trafficking and sexual assault.
The defense witness testified that she shot her videos with Douglas Wiederhold, co-owner of the Las Vegas-based MILF paysite MomPOV.com and the corporate entity Domi Publications. Domi combines the first syllables of Wiederhold’s and Michael Pratt’s names.
Wiederhold was the original GirlsDoPorn male talent before he was replaced by Garcia when Wiederhold moved to Vegas to start MomPOV.
Pratt has been characterized as 50/50 co-owner of Domi Publications in court documents, and Domi Publications is part of the network of opaque corporations controlled by Pratt, currently a fugitive from the FBI on criminal sex trafficking charges.
The companies are all based in the tax shelter island of Vanuatu, close to Pratt’s homeland New Zealand, where he is believed to be hiding from U.S. authorities.
Yesterday, Tara Burns testified she shot at least 15 scenes for MomPOV.com starting in 2010 after, she told Domi Publications’ attorney, George Rikos, she replied to an ad on Backpage.com. Her previous experience included camming and erotic photo shoots.
During cross-examination, the Jane Does’ attorney Brian Holm insisted that, unlike GirlsDoPorn, MomPOV recruited “women already in the porn industry” and did not market itself as “amateur-only.”
Burns testified she served as a “reference girl” for MomPOV.com, helping recruit new MILF talent for a commission. She said she eventually met Michael Pratt through Wiederhold and even “lived with Wiederhold and GirlsDoPorn videographer Matthew Wolfe for six months from 2010 to 2011.”
Burns is the only model called by the defense. The other witnesses offered by GirlsDoPorn’s lawyers are expert witnesses.
The civil trial is expected to last through next week.
For XBIZ's extensive background article on the GirlsDoPorn case, click here.