LOS ANGELES — LA Direct owner Derek Hay was sentenced Friday to nine months in county jail and two years’ probation, after pleading guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit pandering and one charge of perjury.
The sentencing hearing had carried over into a second day. During the first day of the hearing, July 17, the five former clients who triggered the criminal investigation after a labor complaint hearing — Charlotte Cross, Shay Evans, Sofi Ryan, Andi Rye and Hadley Viscara — read impact statements before Hay and the court. A sixth former LA Direct client, Bobbi Dylan, sent a written statement to be read out.
As XBIZ reported, Hay’s maximum sentence of 270 days was part of a plea agreement with the California attorney general in the criminal case against him and two co-defendants, all of whom were indicted by a grand jury in September 2022.
The former agent was arraigned in March 2023, although he first faced criminal pandering charges in California in March 2020, stemming from accusations made during the labor case that involved the five models —initially known only as “Jane Does” — who petitioned against Hay and his agency before the California Labor Commission.
The 2020 felony charges and the September 2022 grand jury indictment are connected to the five Jane Doe models’ original 2018 civil filings and their 2019 testimony before the Labor Board.
Hay was remanded into custody to start serving his sentence immediately after the hearing.
