Christchurch man Matthew Wolfe is awaiting sentence in the US for sex trafficking after an FBI investigation into a porn website he ran with his schoolmate. Photo / Supplied
Christchurch man Matthew Wolfe is awaiting sentence in the US for sex trafficking after an FBI investigation into a porn website he ran with his schoolmate. Photo / Supplied
A New Zealander who helped trick women into becoming porn stars has lost his US lawyer and had sentencing delayed – while his old boss and Christchurch schoolboy friend is awaiting extradition from Spain after appearing on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
Matthew Isaac Wolfe, aka‘Ben’, was due to be sentenced in a San Diego courtroom this week for his roles in the GirlsDoPorn scandal.
Wolfe, 41, is facing a maximum sentence of life imprisonment after earlier pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.
But he faces a nervy wait until May 25 to learn of his fate.
Court documents seen by the Herald reveal that Wolfe needs more time to finish his paperwork to “address the complicated issues involved in the matter”. He has also had a change in attorneys.
Wolfe was a cameraman and office assistant to primary school buddy Michael James Pratt’s shady porn empire behind popular adult websites GirlsDoPorn and GirlsDoToys.
New Zealander Michael James Pratt was named on the FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list. Photo / Supplied
Others have already been convicted for their parts in the scandal.
And Pratt, who had been on the run since 2019, was finally arrested in Spain just before Christmas.
Spanish police announced the arrest on Twitter, publishing a video of officers handcuffing a man and searching him.
A spokeswoman for the FBI, which had offered US$100,000 for information on Pratt’s whereabouts, this week told the Herald he is “still awaiting extradition”.
Michael James Pratt is awaiting extradition from Spain. Photo / Supplied
To persuade women to appear in the videos, Wolfe admitted to telling them the videos would never be posted online, would never be released in the United States, and that no one who knew the women would ever find out about their production.
Women targeted by Wolfe said in a US$20 million lawsuit that he had promised them the videos would only be seen by private collectors in Australia and New Zealand.
Many of those duped into filming were struggling financially and offered between US$3000-US$5000 as payment, as well as an “all expenses” trip to San Diego. They were taken to motel rooms where the footage was filmed.
The videos were then posted to the company’s own subscription-based website, while shorter versions were posted to some of the world’s largest pornography sites, with the company profiting over $17 million in revenue according to court documents.
The videos were viewed over a billion times - a conservative figure that doesn’t take into account pirated copies of the files.
According to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), Wolfe admitted that he moved to the United States in 2011 to work for Pratt, the owner of the GirlsDoPorn and GirlsDoToys websites.
The pair had been friends since childhood, growing up together in Christchurch.
“Wolfe filmed approximately one hundred videos, he uploaded finished videos onto the internet, he oversaw the company’s financial books, and he operated various business entities that were used to promote the business,” the DOJ said in a statement.
The promises were made, despite Wolfe knowing Pratt was also operating a separate site, pornwikileaks.com, set up to expose the “true identities” of women appearing in the sex videos.
“Even after Wolfe became aware of this, he and others continued to assure prospective models that no one would ever find out about their video shoot or learn their identity.”
