Last Updated on June 19, 2021
As part of a publicly available complaint filed in a lawsuit against MindGeek, the company that owns the dominant porn sharing website Pornhub, information about the complainants has been released for the first time. A total of 34 women and girls claim that non-consensual videos and images of them were uploaded to the pornography platform, most often while they were under age, and sometimes including videos of rape.
The court document reveals that Jane Doe No. 1 says she was a victim of deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. “Beginning at age 7, and continuing for more than 21 years, Jane Doe No. 1 was raped, trafficked, and exploited by a ring of Hollywood men and New York financiers, including Jeffrey Epstein,” the complaint alleges. “These interactions were often recorded and since no later than 2007 have been widely and continuously distributed on Pornhub.” (READ MORE: Pornhub CEO’s $20 Million Mansion Goes Up In Flames, Police Suspect Arson)
The document continues that “In 2004, Jane Doe No. 1 was transported to Florida, where she was introduced to Jeffrey Epstein and other men.” The document states that she was “directed to give Epstein ‘massages,’ which the New York Times explained was a known code word for sex among Epstein’s inner circles.” After meeting Epstein, the complaint alleges that “She was transported to Epstein’s properties in New York, Palm Beach, Florida, and his private island, Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which she visited on multiple occasions” throughout “her middle school and high schools years” with the abuse only ending “right before she started college.”
The complaint continues to explain that at least “seven explicit videos” of her exist or existed “on Pornhub between 2011 and 2016” including “at least one recording from a live stream.” The complaint explains that she was sometimes forced to reupload videos of her self to the video platform “as a form of punishment” from human traffickers. The complaint alleges that the Epstein victim’s “therapist assisted her with takedown requests, but she was not successful in having them all removed” and the years of exploitation caused her “to suffer from an eating disorder and substance abuse” which ultimately forced her “to take a leave of absence from college.” (READ MORE: Pornhub Says Up to 68,000 Child Rape Videos Per Year is the Cost of Providing Free Porn)
The lawsuit was filed against Pornhub’s owners by Brown Rudnick LLP, which is described as “a boutique firm that represents clients around the globe in complex business transactions and high-stakes litigation.” On a website created to explain the MindGeek lawsuit, the firm writes, “On June 17, 2021, international law firm Brown Rudnick LLP filed a lawsuit against MindGeek, the parent company of tubesite Pornhub, various of its affiliates, owners, and officers, as well as Visa, on behalf of over 30 victims of child pornography, rape, and human trafficking.”
It also explains that “the complaint alleges that Pornhub and MindGeek knowingly profited from videos depicting rape, child sexual exploitation, revenge porn, trafficking, and other nonconsensual sexual content” and boasts that the firm is “leading a battle-ready team of trial lawyers fighting to end the exploitation of these brave victims and those similarly situated.”
