Adult film actresses address talent agent during his sentencing hearing

LOS ANGELES (CN) — Five adult film actresses appeared in a downtown LA courtroom Wednesday to address their former talent agent, Derek Hay, whom they say steered them to work in an illegal prostitution ring.

“I was led to believe that I could trust Derek and his agency to manage my career with my best interests in mind,” said a woman who performs under the name Andi Rye, during Hay’s sentencing hearing. “I wanted to be an adult film performer. But through a pipeline, I became a prostitute.”

Hay, a 59-year-old British man, appeared in more than 800 adult films under the name Ben English. He went on to found LA Direct Models, one of the top talent agencies representing adult film performers. In 2023, a grand jury indicted Hay on four felony counts relating to pimping and pandering — persuading someone to work as a prostitute — as well as one additional count of perjury.

Allan Gelbard, the attorney representing the six women named as victims in the case, has called Hay, in a written declaration, “the Harvey Weinstein of the Porn Industry,” accusing him of using “his position of authority to financially, sexually and emotionally abuse his clients for his own financial gain and sexual pleasure.”

Two others were also indicted: Dwight Cunningham and Karine Michmichian, who ran The Luxury Companion, a company that provided high-end escort services from the adult entertainment world. According to charging documents, the three defendants worked together to set up hundreds of sexual encounters for paying customers. Rye testified that she was paid between $1,000 and $1,500 for each encounter, and gave Cunningham and Michmichian $200 to $300 each time.

According to the indictment, Hay received kickbacks from the two other defendants. On Wednesday, Rye and other women told the court that Hay would pressure his clients into performing sex work. If they refused, he would sometimes threaten to blacklist them from the adult entertainment industry.

“The day I met Derek Hay, my life turned upside down,” a woman who performs under the name Sofi Ryan told the court on Wednesday. “Soon, I would be sexually assaulted, manipulated into escorting and lied to.”

“I was promised I would be a star with this massive career,” she added. “Ultimately, I was punished because Derek wanted to control me but couldn’t.”

Other women accused Cunningham of harassing, bullying and intimidating them, either personally or by planting negative stories about them in news sites and blogs that cover the porn industry. A woman who performs under the name Shay Evans cited Cunningham’s “violent past,” and said, “with a light sentencing, I feel like they will immediately continue where they left off.”

In May, just as the jury was seated, Hay agreed to plead guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit pandering by procuring. His codefendants also pleaded guilty to some of the counts. Wednesday’s scheduled sentencing hearing dragged on for a full day, and ended before the judge had the chance to sentence anyone — but not before a defiant Hay had time to address the court and, despite his guilty plea, defend himself against many of the accusations leveled against him.

“Andi Rye, for me, is a strange person to stand before the court and make allegations against me,” Hay said. “I almost never spoke to Andi.”

He also took the opportunity to lambast Adult Video News, or AVN, a trade publication that covers the porn industry, who had a reporter in the gallery covering the hearing.

“They have obsessed over me over the last six years, never failing to write a bad story about me,” Hay said. “There was a time when Direct Models was tremendously successful. The business is pretty much gone now.”

The closest thing Hay said that was close to an admission of guilt was: “I got myself into this. I got my feet too close to the flame.”

His attorney, Michael Freeman, took a similarly hard line, telling the judge that his client had only “a very small degree of involvement” with the prostitution ring, adding, “he got no money, made no appointments and directed no activity.”

When it was his turn to speak, an irate California Department of Justice prosecutor Jeff Segal hit back at Hay, whom he called a “malignant narcissist” who didn’t express remorse or empathy.

“Mr. Hay just had the opportunity to express some remorse, some empathy, to reflect on mistakes he’s made,” Segal said. “Instead, he took the time to talk about how he is the real victim. He got some bad press out of being charged with these crimes. He took the time to attack the victims.”

Neither Michmichian nor Cunningham spoke in court. Michmichian’s attorney said that in her dealings with escorts, she had always been respectful and easy to work with and had not been accused of violence or coercion. He asked the court for a 90-day sentence. According to the terms of the plea agreement, she faces a maximum of 180 days.

Cunningham faces up to six years in a state prison, thanks to what the judge called his “somewhat lengthy criminal history,” including a firearm conviction in 2016, for which he was still on probation when the crimes in this case took place. His attorney said there had been no fraud or coercion at The Luxury Company and also that some of the victims in the case had already been prostitutes before they began “working” for the company.

As for Hay, he is likely to receive a short term in a county jail, though he could potentially receive a probation-only sentence.

Hay and Cunningham are now scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 2. Michmichian is set to be sentenced on July 26. There will be a restitution hearing to determine how much money the three defendants will have to pay the victims and their lawyer. And there is also a pending civil case against Hay, which may proceed to a jury trial.

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