Porn star sentenced to nearly 6 years in prison for extorting tech tycoon
A porn actor convicted of extorting an Audi sports car and $500,000 in cash from a wealthy tech tycoon by threatening to publicize his hiring of male escorts for sex was sentenced Tuesday to nearly six years in federal prison.
In addition to the 70-month prison term, Teofil Brank, better known by his stage name Jarec Wentworth, was also ordered to pay about $500,000 in restitution to his victim, according to a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.
A Los Angeles jury convicted Brank in July of extorting Donald Burns, chairman of MagicJack VocalTec, a low-cost Internet phone service, according to court records.
A sentencing memorandum filed by federal prosecutors said the two men met in 2013 in a “pay-for-sex encounter.” Between 2013 and 2014, Burns paid Brank between $1,500 and $2,000 for sex on about four occasions, the memorandum said.
In addition, he paid Brank to arrange sexual trysts for himself with other adult film actors and escorts, prosecutors wrote.
The arrangement began to unravel earlier this year when Brank refused to return a fee for a tryst that never happened, prosecutors said. Burns told Brank that he did not think they could continue to have a “working” relationship, prosecutors wrote.
In response, Brank sent a series of threatening text messages to Burns, the sentencing memorandum said.
“I can bring your house down....Lies can be made or maybe it’s the truth,” Brank wrote in one message, later sending, “I’m feeling evil right now.”
“Money won’t wash away what people will read and see of you. Wow I guess I hold the cards right now,” he wrote.
At trial, Burns testified that he was “scared to the core” about what Brank would publicize about him, according to transcripts of the proceedings.
In a bid to avoid further humiliation and end the threats, Burns wired Brank $500,000 and handed over his Audi R8, worth about $180,000, according to court papers.
Brank’s demands continued, with a request for $1 million, according to court papers.
Burns’ attorneys then contacted the FBI and a sting operation was set up at a Starbucks in El Segundo, court records show.
An undercover agent gave Brank the title to the Audi R8 inside the coffee shop, but said the $1 million was stored in the trunk of his car, according to a sworn affidavit by an FBI agent. Outside, agents arrested the porn star and found a loaded revolver in his car, the affidavit said.
While awaiting trial behind bars, Brank continued to target Burns, falsely accusing him of having sex with minors, prosecutors alleged.
During trial, Deputy Federal Public Defender Seema Ahmad told jurors that Brank did not extort Burns, court records show. Brank only wanted to expose “what happened to him” and secure what he thought Burns owed him, she argued.
“He wanted what was promised him,’’ Ahmad said in court.
For breaking news in California, follow @MattHjourno.
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