Former Miss Teen Colorado runner-up Kristy Althaus sues Pornhub over explicit video 'she was forced
A former Miss Teen Colorado runner-up has sued Pornhub after saying she was sex trafficked and raped by a notorious porn producer who was also an FBI Most Wanted fugitive.
Kristy Althaus, whose life and career was ruined when GirlsDoPorn released the X-rated footage that she says she was coerced into filming when she was just 18 years old, has filed a federal lawsuit demanding justice for the trauma she's faced.
In the filing from September 8, Althaus said she was raped multiple times in a hotel room over a 10-hour period after being plied her with alcohol and drugs. She was left her in a pool of blood caused by the repeated, violent nature of the sex acts.
The teen claims she was lured in under the guise of it being a modeling shoot, and was then promised by California-based GirlsDoPorn owner Michael Pratt that the film wouldn't go online.
But it was - and over the last decade, her non-consensual explicit videos have been watched hundreds of millions of times across the globe.
Althaus felt 'trapped for her life' during the ordeal, and claims Pratt and his associates blackmailed and threatened to kill her when she didn't make more porn videos for them to distribute.
Kristy Althaus, whose life and career was ruined when GirlsDoPorn released the footage that she was coerced into filming when she was 18 years old, has filed a federal lawsuit demanding justice for the trauma she's faced
Althaus is seen in the 2012 Miss Teen Colorado competition. She responded to a Craigslist advert and agreed to partake in a headshots and clothing photoshoot with a company she believed to be reputable
The defendants of the lawsuit are named as Aylo, formerly known as MindGeek, which is the parent company of Pornhub, and Ethical Capital Partners, a private equity firm that recently acquired Aylo.
It was only when the Department of Justice seized and shut down GirlsDoPorn and MindGeek that Althaus' explicit videos were temporarily removed. But with the nature of the internet, the clips have never been fully scrubbed.
In the complaint, Althaus said that as recently as June, she was assaulted at her own home by a Pornhub subscriber who confronted her about the recent removal of her videos.
It stated that 'unidentified men continue to approach her home at all hours of the day and night' and she 'fears for her life.'
The lawsuit claims that GirlsDoPorn 'trafficked hundreds of high school and college-aged women for sex under the false pretext of a modeling shoot' and they would use 'drugs, alcohol, fraud, coercion, intimidation and threats of force,' against the women to get them to film explicit scenes.
Althaus had just finished high school in 2013 when she decided to go into modelling.
She responded to a Craigslist advert and agreed to partake in a headshots and clothing photoshoot with a company she believed to be reputable.
The 18-year-old flew from Colorado to San Diego for the shoot, and GirlsDoPorn paid for her flights. She said they said she had the 'right looks' for the modeling job.
It was only when she as picked up from the airport by Pratt that he and his colleagues began to coerce her into filming a live action adult content film.
They used her pageant title to their advantage to lure more viewers in to watch her non-consensual sex scenes she filmed at 18 years old, according to the lawsuit. Her porn video was even the second-most watched on Pornhub for the year of 2014
The teen claims she was lured in under the guise of it being a modeling shoot, and was then promised by California-based GirlsDoPorn owner Michael Pratt (pictured) that the film wouldn't go online
She refused - but Pratt and his co-conspirators 'immediately pressured her and plied her with booze and pills to soften her reluctance,' the lawsuit states.
The defendants then told her that the video would only be on DVD and would be sold in Australia - saying it would not be posted online or released in the US.
While still giving her alcohol and marijuana, Pratt and his co-conspirator Andre Garcia got her into a car and drove her to a hotel - before handing her a contract to sign in the vehicle.
Althaus claims that she could not read it because of her 'intoxicated condition' but saw the words DVD and Australia in larger font than the rest of the words in the document.
The next thing she remembered was being in a hotel room with four strange men - Pratt, Garcia - who was the male performer for the video - Matthew Wolfe, and a lighting production man.
According to the lawsuit, the hotel room was jam packed with filming equipment, blocking the windows and doors, and she was restricted from leaving the bed and had her phone confiscated by Pratt.
At this point, 'Pratt and his conspirators deceived, coerced, and forced the plaintiff to perform sexual acts on film.'
The lawsuit claims: 'Production of the video took approximated 9-10 hours, and included protracted filming of the plaintiff's non-consensual sex - i.e rape.'
Colorado-born Althaus started bleeding because of the sex - but when she stained the sheets, they just flipped it over to the clean side. Though she was crying and asking to leave, the men told her she couldn't until the filming was finished.
They screamed profanities at her, including 'stupid b***h' and 'f***ing s**t' when she tried to escape the hotel room, the lawsuit claims.
In the months after, when Althaus had started college, Pratt started demanding that she filmed more videos. He sent her threatening texts, saying she would be in a 'graveyard' if she didn't comply. He also said he'd release the video online.
'Out of fear and under duress, the plaintiff participated in additional videos,' the lawsuit states. She repeatedly told them to stop filming, and Pratt burst into a fit of rage, breaking a lamp in the hotel room during the ordeal.
In the months after, when Althaus had started college, Pratt started demanding that she filmed more videos. He sent her threatening texts, saying she would be in a 'graveyard' if she didn't comply. He also said he'd release the video online
Pratt fled to Spain and is awaiting extradition after being arrested by cops
Pratt then showed her a gun that he had on his body as a threat. She was also plied with drugs and alcohol during the second filming, the suit states.
When the second video was finished, Pratt forced Althaus to perform oral sex on him in his car. He took her to his home and sexually assaulted her multiple times, and even made her suck on his gun in a sexual manner, the lawsuit states.
It was after this, in January 2014, that the porn company released her videos online without her consent. They went viral - and she was constantly harassed by people at college, forcing her to stay in her dorm room out of fear.
She received a text: 'Told you b***h' from an anonymous number shortly before her X-rated clips started circulating on the internet.
GirlsDoPorn used an 'aggressive marketing strategy' to make sure her videos were seen far and wide, and by her friends and family, the suit alleges.
They used her pageant title to their advantage to lure more viewers in to watch her non-consensual sex scenes she filmed at 18 years old, according to the lawsuit.
Her porn video was even the second-most watched on Pornhub for the year of 2014.
She dropped out of college, change her name, couldn't get a job, and lost her First Runner Up in the Miss Teen Colorado pageant title.
In 2020, Girls Do Porn was ordered to pay $12.8million in damages, after a class-action lawsuit accused the company of coercing and defrauding 22 women.
In October 2019, Pratt, Wolfe, and Garcia were charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.
Pratt fled to Spain and is awaiting extradition after being arrested by cops.
Garcia pleaded guilty and was given a 20 year sentence. Wolfe is in federal custody and is awaiting sentencing.
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