Porn site founder and FBI Most Wanted fugitive arrested in Spain

Michael James Pratt, the founder of a now-defunct California-based porn empire and a fugitive on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, was arrested in Spain after fleeing federal charges, officials announced. 

Spanish National Police arrested Pratt, a New Zealand native, last week in Madrid, Spain, where he awaits extradition to the United States, the FBI announced Friday.

Pratt faces 19 charges including sex trafficking, child pornography and money laundering in connection to his website GirlsDoPorn, which shut down in 2020 after 22 women claiming they were victims of fraud won a lawsuit against the company.

"The capture of Michael Pratt is an example of how the FBI will pursue justice beyond U.S. borders — you can run but you can't hide," FBI Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy said. 

Pratt, 40, and other coconspirators have been accused of recruiting young women for modeling jobs, which the women later found were porn shoots.

The women said they were given marijuana and alcohol before signing a contract they were forbidden from reading, The Associated Press reported. Some victims said they were sexually assaulted and they were not allowed to leave hotel rooms until after the filming ended. 

Pratt allegedly paid other women to act as references and reassure the victims that the pornography would not be posted online. 

Other co-defendants in the GirlsDoPorn case pleaded guilty, such as company official Matthew Isaac Wolfe, producer and performer Ruben Andre Garcia, cameraman Theodore Gyi and bookkeeper Valorie Moser.