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Gay Porn Star Gets 6 Years In Jail For Extorting Tech Tycoon
A gay porn star was sentenced on Tuesday to six years in federal prison after he was found guilty of extorting a tech tycoon under the threat that he would expose his sex life to the public.
Teofil Brank, 26, who performs under the name Jarec Wentworth in adult movies and on gay porn websites, will not only have to go to prison for 70 months, but will also have to pay $500,000 in restitution to his victim, Donald Burns, the 51-year-old Florida-based chairman of internet phone service MagicJack VocalTec, the L.A. Times reports.
In July, Brank was found guilty in a Los Angeles courthouse for six extortion-related counts of blackmailing Burns out of $500,000 in cash and his Audi R8, which was valued at about $180,000. Brank had told Burns that he would "bring your house down" in a series of threatening texts. Prosecutors said Brank said he would expose the tycoon's sexual trysts through Twitter.
"I want a new car, motorcycle and both hands full of cash," Brank wrote in a text message to Burns on Feb. 16, according to court records, Courthouse News reports.
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Brank had threatened to publicize that Burns hired him to have sex four times—paying between $1,500 and $2,000 during 2013 to 2014—and that Burns also asked Brank to arrange for sexual encounters with other porn stars and escorts. Burns would later testify in court that he did pay for sex and knew he was engaging in prostitution.
Burns was afraid of Brank's threats and gave in to his demands. He wired $500,000 to Brank's bank account and gave him his Audi. Two weeks later, Brank asked for $1 million and the title to the Audi. That's when Burns' attorneys went to the F.B.I. for help.
The F.B.I. arranged a sting operation on March 4, with an undercover agent posing as an associate of Burns, who would meet Branks at a Starbucks in El Segundo. The agent handed over the title of the Audi to Brank, and Brank discussed the $1 million transfer before agents arrested him outside of the coffee shop. A loaded revolver was found in the car, according to court documents.
Brank's attorney Seema Ahmad argued that her client wasn't trying to extort Burns, but just wanted to get back the money that he believed Burns owed him and to tell to his Twitter followers about "what happened to him." The defense also argued that Burns "groomed and mentored" Brank, saying that he would help Brank with his modeling career to get him out of porn, but didn't follow through with his promise before breaking off their friendship.
In pre-sentencing documents, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eddie Jauregui wrote that Branks didn't show any remorse, and that he "sought to inflict more pain on the victim and garner more fame for himself" even during the time he was detained while waiting for his trial, according to City News Service.
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