Child porn supremo who was one of the FBI’s ten most wanted fugitives and made a £14million fortune with films of underage girls being raped is arrested in Madrid after fleeing the US
- Michael James Pratt, 40, an FBI most wanted criminal, was arrested in Madrid
- The FBI were offering $100,000 for information about the New Zealander
- Pratt deceived young women and girls into making pornography videos
A child porn supremo who was one of the FBI’s ten most wanted fugitives after making his fortune from films of underage girls being raped has been arrested in Madrid after fleeing the US.
Michael James Pratt, a New Zealand citizen, fled the US after being sentenced to life imprisonment for making a £14million fortune from child pornography, sexual exploitation and sexual assault.
Spanish police said on Friday they had arrested the 40-year-old criminal, one of the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted fugitives, who was staying at a hotel in Madrid under a false identity.
The agency were offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information about Pratt’s location.
Michael James Pratt, a New Zealand citizen, fled the US after being sentenced to life imprisonment for making a £14million fortune from child pornography
Video footage of the arrest shows Pratt being pinned down as his pockets were searched, before he was handcuffed and taken away by police
Pratt owned a pornography production company and websites, called GirlsDoPorn and GirlsDoToys, recruiting underage girls and young women by deception between 2012 and 2019.
Video footage of the arrest shows Pratt being pinned down as his pockets were searched, before he was handcuffed and taken away by police.
Only 57 criminals on the FBI Most Wanted List have been arrested outside the U.S. and it is the first time it happened in Spain, Spanish authorities said.
Pratt and his co-conspirators placed online advertisements offering clothed modelling jobs, which turned out to be pornographic recordings.
Spanish police said on Friday they had arrested the 40-year-old criminal, one of the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted fugitives, who was staying at a hotel in Madrid under a false identity
Spanish police said on Friday they had arrested the 40-year-old criminal while he was staying at a hotel in Madrid
The FBI were offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information about Pratt’s location.
He paid other women as ‘bait’ to convince the victims footage would not be published online.
Sometimes victims were held against their will and in the worst cases they were forced to perform sexual practices to which they had previously expressly refused.
A federal arrest warrant was issued for Pratt in the United States District Court, Southern District of California, on November 6, 2019.
Spanish national police tweeted: ‘Arrested in #Madrid a New Zealand fugitive, included in the 10 most wanted list for #FBI.
‘He was sentenced to life imprisonment in #EEUU for crimes of child pornography, sexual exploitation, sexual assault and illicit earnings, earning +17 million dollars.’
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