New Zealander Michael James Pratt, who was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List, has been arrested in Spain.
Pratt is charged with sex trafficking and the production of child sexual abuse material after allegedly coercing more than 20 women into performing in sex videos.
Spain's Policía Nacional tweeted late last night that they have arrested a fugitive from New Zealand in Madrid.
"He was sentenced to life imprisonment in #EEUU (the US) for crimes of child pornography, sexual exploitation, sexual assault and illicit earnings, earning +17 million dollars," they said, sharing a video of the moment he was taken into custody.
The FBI website confirms Pratt was arrested earlier this week after being on the run since 2019.
"Pratt is being held in Spain pending extradition," the website reads.
"The capture of Michael Pratt is an example of how the FBI will pursue justice beyond US borders—you can run but you can't hide," FBI Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Stacey Moy said.
Pratt, who was raised in Christchurch and went to Christchurch Boys' High School, allegedly used internet ads, fake websites and email addresses to trick young women into thinking they were attending a modelling job.
He ran the GirlsDoPorn website out of San Diego in California where the alleged abuse took place.
Pratt and his associates would fly the women to California where they allegedly revealed the promise of a modelling job was a facade and when they tried to escape he would threaten them with lawsuits, cancelled flights home and would physically block the door.
"He used deceit and lies and vindictiveness to torture the young women he caught in his snare," FBI Supervisory Special Agent Renee Green said.
GirlsDoPorn would tell the women the videos were for private clients overseas and that they would not be shared publicly. Pratt and his partners allegedly hired other women to reassure the victims the videos would not be posted online.
The videos were uploaded to the GirlsDoPorn page on Pornhub, the world's largest pornography website, where they would be exposed to the page's 780,000 subscribers.
Users were able to download the sometimes violent abuse videos freely, meaning that the women would never be able to escape the trauma of being in that position.
According to court documents, one victim was under the age of 18 when she was allegedly coerced by Pratt.
Between 2012 and 2019 Pratt made tens of millions of dollars through his pornography websites.
The women begged Pratt, his associates and Pornhub to remove the videos in 2011 and it took until 2019 for action to be taken.
The owners of the page, including Pratt, were charged with sex trafficking and the production of child sexual abuse material in 2019.
"The defendant lied and tricked these women, made millions along the way, and left his co-conspirators to face justice while he fled," said Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner.
Several other people have been sentenced to lengthy prison sentences for their involvement.
SHARE ME