SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Matthew Wolfe, the second-in-command for the shuttered GirlsDoPorn website, pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court today to a single count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.
The 40-year-old Wolfe “admitted to his role in the broad scheme that recruited numerous women under false pretenses for pornography,” the San Diego Union Tribune reported today.
Wolfe’s responsibilities, according to the report, included “running the day-to-day operations of the websites, managing the finances, marketing the content and serving as cameraman for about 100 videos.”
He was the main business associate of GDP owner Michael Pratt, the New Zealand national who escaped the U.S. before federal charges against the company and its employees were unsealed in 2019.
Pratt remains a fugitive and is one of the FBI’s most wanted criminals.
The conspiracy count to which Wolfe pleaded guilty today, the San Diego Union Tribute reported, concerns 15 of-age models for the website.
The PornWikileaks Connection
Wolfe, the San Diego newspaper noted, admitted as part of his plea that “he was aware that the names and social media accounts for some women were posted on another website controlled by Pratt, resulting in severe harassment of the women by internet trolls. Still, Wolfe and others continued to assure recruits that their videos, and identifies, would remain secret.”
As XBIZ reported, during the 2019 civil trial of Pratt, Wolfe and other GDP associates in a case brought by a number of models, the plaintiffs' lawyers alleged that in July 2015, “Defendants began publishing their victims’ personal information (names, links to social media accounts, hometowns, pictures, etc.) en masse to a website called PornWikileaks.com.”
Moreover, the Jane Does alleged that in November 2015, the domain PornWikileaks.com — the infamous website that hosted a doxxing and extortion fodder forum targeting adult models, called “Whore Hunting” — was transferred to an email address belonging to Michael Pratt.
In the Fall of 2019, during the civil trial but before the Department of Justice had unsealed the criminal charges and arrested Wolfe and others, it was revealed that Florida-based gonzo adult studio Bang Bros had bought PornWikileaks and “destroyed their servers” as a service to the adult community.
An FBI agent’s affidavit in the criminal case referred to PornWikileaks as “a website connected to Pratt.”
Wolfe also admitted as part of his plea agreement that “some of the women were threatened if they asked to stop,” the San Diego Union Tribune reported.
Owner Michael Pratt Still at Large
Wolfe faced a sentence of up to life in prison, but as part of his plea agreement, prosecutors are recommending his sentence should not exceed 12.5 years.
The January 2019 federal indictment named Pratt, male talent and scout Ruben Andre "Dre" Garcia, Wolfe and three others as co-conspirators in the GDP operation.
In June 2021, Garcia was sentenced to 20 years after pleading guilty in December 2020 to the charges of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion; and sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion.
Pratt has been a fugitive from U.S. federal authorities since late 2019 and was last presumed to be in his native New Zealand two years ago.
While Pratt’s whereabouts are still unknown, San Diego FBI spokesperson Special Agent William McNamara stated that “we know there are people that are helping Pratt.”
In October 2021, the FBI increased the reward offered for information leading to Pratt’s arrest to $50,000.
For XBIZ's ongoing coverage of the GirlsDoPorn case, click here.
