A Los Angeles judge on Monday granted a motion to temporarily keep secret the name of the alleged victim in what prosecutors claim was a porn actor’s attempt to blackmail a wealthy man out of $1 million and a condominium by threatening to expose details of his sexual liaisons.
Teofil Brank — who performs under the name Jarec Wentworth in adult films and on gay porn sites — is awaiting trial on a federal felony charge of intent to extort by threatening to damage another’s reputation. If convicted, he faces up to two years in federal prison.
The alleged victim is identified in court documents only by the initials D.B.
In a hearing in downtown Los Angeles, U.S. District Judge John F. Walter granted the motion for privacy pursuant to the Crime Victims’ Rights Act brought by D.B.’s attorney, Douglas A. Axel.
Brank’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the filing, the alleged victim requests that his name not be publicly disclosed in the judicial record “unless and until the trial in this matter commences.”
Axel argued that a decision to reveal the victim’s identity to the public at this time “would violate his right to privacy and inflict the very harm that the government is seeking to punish in these proceedings.”
In her opposition brief, defense attorney Seema Ahmad countered that D.B.’s full name has already been published in at least one blog post.
Walter set a May 12 trial date, which is expected to be postponed.
Brank, 26, of Sacramento, was arrested March 4 in an FBI sting after an agent posing as D.B.’s friend met with the porn actor at a Starbucks in El Segundo and handed over title to an Audi R8 luxury sports car and discussed transfer of $1 million, according to court documents.
Weeks earlier, Brank had allegedly threatened to post sexually explicit photographs and private information about D.B. on social media if the man did not provide $500,000 and the car.
“I’m just going to bite hard,” Brank texted to the victim, according to an affidavit prepared by an FBI agent who investigated the case. “I want a new car, motorcycle and both hands full of cash.”
The victim complied, transferring $500,000 to Brank the next day, the affidavit states.
When Brank was arrested, a revolver and ammunition were found in his car, according to the document.
In unsuccessfully arguing for Brank’s pretrial release last week, Ahmad told the court that her client, a non-citizen who was brought to the United States as a toddler from Romania, wants to fight his charge in court and would not flee the district.
— City News Service