The Daily Beast have reported that Pratt has operated porn websites since 2000, when he launched Wicked Movies, TeenieFlixxx, and Kute Kittens from a base in New Zealand.
The sites operated by sending traffic to websites that hosted the explicit videos, clipping the ticket on every click.
Michael Pratt has made repeated attempts to delay the case. Photo / Supplied
The 22 women who have taken the class action suit allege that the website was fuelled by the participation of women who were coerced into appearing, claiming that they were hooked in by ads for modelling before being told the company produced pornography.
They claim there were then false promises made about the videos only being distributed on DVD in foreign territories, before they were then uploaded straight to the web.
Harrowing details
Some of the complainants have spoken out about their experience with Girls Do Porn, telling San Diego news station NBC7 that they were "definitely taken advantage of".
The women said the shoots lasted up to six or seven hours, and when the pain of their experience led to them trying to leave, they were told they wouldn't be paid.
"I was in a room with two men and they both kind of teamed up on me and I didn't feel safe and like, I could leave on my own will," one woman told NBC 7.
"I felt humiliated, exhausted, drained, and I just sold my soul. It was the lowest point I've ever had," a Southern California woman said.
The aftermath
The women's pain was compounded when the videos were posted online, as their identities and personal details began to spread across the internet.
Forums sprang up that were dedicated to revealing the identities of women on Girls Do Porn.
Details were also leaked on Porn Wikileaks, a site dedicated to revealing the true identities of thousands of porn actors.
In one case, a teenage beauty queen lost her title when her video leaked, with Girls Do Porn representatives contacting media to share humiliating videos of the young woman, and mocking her for being "frigid".
The young women's lives were turned upside down after the videos went online. Photo / Getty
A lawyer for the 22 complainants said he spoke to one woman who had a screenshot of her having sex taped to her dad's front door.
Another woman said her parents broke off contact with her for a year about her video went online.
"I don't want to see another young girl fall victim into any of this," she told NBC7. "It's horrible, it's something I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy."
The legal case
Legal proceedings against Girls Do Porn began in June 2016 when four women filed a lawsuit.
Within a year they had been joined by another 18 women and a trial date was set for March 2018.
Proceedings were delayed when Michael Pratt filed for bankruptcy, a move that Pratt's own text messages, revealed through discovery, suggest to have been made to halt the trial.
Pratt texted: "As soon as I bankrupt the business they are f***ed, the case gets held".
When a new date of June 2019 was set, Pratt made additional filings that saw it delayed another four times.
The women now seek US$22 million ($35 million) in damages, their videos removed from the website and an injunction requiring Pratt to provide extensive disclosures before hiring any other women.
