They arrest the creator of a porn website that tricked young women into recording videos promising that no one would see them

The founder of a California-based pornographic website that tricked young women into making sex videos and then posting them online without their knowledge was arrested in Spain on Wednesday, three years after going on the run after facing sex trafficking charges, the Bureau said. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Michael James Pratt, who was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list since September, with a $100,000 reward for his capture, was arrested by the Spanish National Police and will be extradited to San Diego, California to stand trial on charges child sex trafficking, child pornography production, and money laundering conspiracy, among other criminal charges.

FBI poster with three photographs of Michael James Pratt, founder of a California-based pornographic website.

FBI/AP

Pratt, 40, originally from New Zealand, is the founder of the (now defunct) website GirlsDoPorn.

In 2019, he was accused of sexual crimes, along with other people, by 22 women who said they had been victims of fraud and breach of employment contract.

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The women claimed alcohol and marijuana were supplied to them before being pressured into signing a contract without being able to read it.

Some reported having been sexually assaulted and confined to hotel rooms until the end of filming.

Pratt and his alleged cronies posted ads to recruit fashion models, who they then harassed to shoot pornographic images for money, according to the allegations against them.

They "falsely" promised the women that the videos would not be posted online, but would go to the collection of wealthy people living in remote locations, never to be seen by their family or friends.

A judge ruled in favor of the women in a civil proceeding, imposing a $12.7 million fine against Pratt, Matthew Isaac Wolfe and a porn producer named Ruben Andre Garcia.

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Wolfe, who handled the company's day-to-day operations, finances and marketing, pleaded guilty earlier this year to one federal count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.

He has not been sentenced.

The other defendants also pleaded guilty.

Garcia was sentenced to 20 years and cameraman Theodore Gyi to four.