LOS ANGELES — A legal team headed by attorney Michael J. Bowe has expanded its strategy in a series of ongoing legal actions against Aylo, over user-uploaded content on Pornhub allegedly involving minors, this time targeting finance companies that have backed or worked with the company formerly known as Mindgeek.
Bowe, who was prominently featured in the 2023 Netflix documentary “Money Shot: The Pornhub Story” and has previously represented Donald Trump and Jerry Falwell Jr., recently filed lawsuits on behalf of 11 people who allege they were depicted in CSAM uploaded to Pornhub. The suits name as defendants Aylo, Visa and hedge funds Redwood Capital Management and Colbeck Capital Management.
The new lawsuits claim the financial companies “knowingly profited from the content,” Reuter reported.
Last month, Bowe’s team amended the complaint in the Serena Fleites lawsuit to directly implicate the hedge funds in the alleged crime. Fleites’ case was foregrounded by Nicholas Kristof and Exodus Cry’s Laila Micklewait in the sensationalizing 2020 New York Times article “The Children of Pornhub.”
Aylo told XBIZ, “Out of respect for the integrity of court proceedings, our policy is not to comment on ongoing litigation. We look forward to the facts being fully and fairly aired in that forum.”
As XBIZ reported, in 2021 Bowe’s team filed a massive civil lawsuit in California against Mindgeek, its officials and investors, on behalf of 34 women who alleged they were “human trafficked” by the company, a charge relating to alleged illegal videos uploaded by third parties onto its flagship tube site.
Religious anti-porn groups Exodus Cry and NCOSE (formerly Morality in Media) have at times taken credit for originating or being involved in Bowe’s legal actions. Both groups have also taken credit for originating Kristof’s reporting and slant.
The New York-based Bowe and fellow attorney Lauren Tabaksblat filed the lawsuits from the Orange County office of law firm Brown Rudnick.
Although these are civil cases, many of the complaints drafted by Bowe and the others are worded as criminal charges: violation of federal sex trafficking laws; receipt, transport and distribution of child pornography; racketeering; public disclosure of private facts; placing plaintiffs in “false light”; common law misappropriation of likeness; statutory misappropriation of likeness; distribution of private sexually explicit materials; negligence; unjust enrichment; unfair competition; and civil conspiracy.
The 2021 lawsuit warned that “American credit companies and banks, including in particular here, defendant Visa,” could also be targeted by lawsuits for “knowingly profiting” alongside Mindgeek, since they were “uniquely suited to stop this exploitation but chose instead to participate in the profiteering.”
Bowe’s strategy of “naming and shaming” finance companies coincides with the increased visibility of recent efforts led by Free Speech Coalition (FSC) to end financial discrimination against sex workers and adult businesses, a campaign that has found receptive ears even among Republican legislators.
A Conservative Legal Crusader
Bowe has given interviews to legal magazines, highlighting his development of a new lucrative angle for litigators with these lawsuits.
While it is not clear who is funding the various lawsuits Bowe is pursuing against Aylo, NCOSE General Counsel Benjamin Bull gave an interview last year to “porn accountability software” company Covenant Eyes, appearing to claim that NCOSE had been involved in filing the Fleites case.
NCOSE’s website features forms where people can get information on how to sue tube sites for third-party content. After the publication of Kristof’s article, Mickelwait expanded her efforts against Aylo and Pornhub by starting a nonprofit to match potential plaintiffs in such cases with attorneys.
Bowe has also appeared in various forums with Mickelwait, and their efforts have been vocally supported by controversial Wall Street investor Bill Ackman.
Bowe has notably represented figures on the political right, including serving on then-President Trump’s team during his 2017 impeachment trial. He also represented Fox News anchor Eric Bolling following media reports that claimed Bolling sent sexually inappropriate text messages, and has battled Greenpeace in environmental cases.
Bowe describes himself in his official professional bio as having “almost 30 years of experience successfully litigating virtually every type of high-stakes business and personal case, on both the plaintiff and defense side, and at both the trial and appellate level.” He also brags of “having navigated to safety many companies and high net worth individuals facing serious criminal and regulatory jeopardy.”
Bowe, who has denied that there is any religious component to his campaigns against Aylo and Pornhub, was profiled by his high school alma mater’s magazine, Bergen Catholic, for his commitment to religious causes in a recurring feature titled “Crusader Profile.”
Main Image: Anti-Pornhub Attorney Michael Bowe