FBI announces reward for wanted Kiwi porn producer Michael Pratt. Video / FBI
The FBI has gone public again with their efforts to find fugitive Kiwi porn producer Michael James Pratt, revealing they believe he may still be finding fresh victims.
The bureau issued a fresh appeal for Pratt, who reportedly fled the US in 2019, as the net closed on his sordid empire.
The appeal came with a US$50,000 ($70,000) reward for information and a warning: "We believe he is likely still victimising others".
Among Pratt's seedy offerings was adult video provider Girls Do Porn, which touted itself as offering videos of young women in "the one and only time they do porn".
The reality was more complex and far more sinister.
Pratt, alongside fellow New Zealander Matthew Wolfe and American Ruben Andre Garcia, would target 18-20-year-old women with Craigslist advertisements seeking models, using fake websites and emails to provide an air of authenticity.
Once the young women replied, the men's X-rated intentions would be revealed.
If any of the women then tried to back out, they were offered all-expenses-paid trips to California and up to US$5000 in payments.
If they still resisted, the women were then contacted by young women paid by the company to convince the women to perform, promising that the videos would not be posted online.
The FBI say Pratt may still be victimising others. Photo / FBI
In a 2019 civil trial, one woman testified that she was told the video would go straight to DVD and be sold in New Zealand.
When she later discovered it had been posted to some of the world's most popular porn websites, she says felt "shocked and confused".
The United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California previously detailed the other ways that the men used to coerce the young women to have sex on camera.
"Before some of the video shoots, victims were offered alcohol or marijuana. Victims who consumed alcohol or smoked marijuana were directed to make a recorded statement saying that they were not under the influence of any drugs or alcohol, even though they had just smoked marijuana or drank alcohol," they revealed in a statement.
It also detailed how the men would cancel flights, block doors and threaten the women so that they would be compelled to go through with the filming.
Told the shoots would last only 30 minutes, the women found themselves having sex for several hours, causing many of the victims pain and, in some cases, bleeding.
Garcia would eventually plead guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion.
He was sentenced to 20 years in jail.
While fellow Kiwi Matthew Wolfe is still waiting for his day in court, Michael Pratt remains on the run.
In a release last week, the FBI asked again for information from the public, hoping to arrest Pratt on charges which include production of child pornography and sex trafficking by force.
"We believe he is likely still victimising others. And that's why we feel it's important to get him off the street," said Special Agent William McNamara of the FBI's San Diego Field Office.
The FBI revealed that Pratt has ties to or may visit New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Singapore, Japan, Chile, Croatia, and France.
His friend Wolfe testified in a civil trial that Pratt had flown to South America before heading to New Zealand from the Mexican city of Tijuana.
Herald inquiries with Pratt's family in 2019 offered no fresh leads on his whereabouts.
"We don't know where he is. You'd have to ask him those questions," family said at the time.
