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Porn movie "extortion scheme" ensnares thousands of shocked Houstonians

More than 1,000 Houstonians are fighting to clear their names after getting snagged in a mysterious lawsuit accusing people of illegally downloading pornography.

According to KHOU Ch. 11 news, several adult film companies are threatening to reveal the names of those accused if they refuse to pay thousands in settlement money . . . all in the name of combating online piracy.

Many of those caught in these cases — which one judge says is “essentially an extortion scheme” — claim they've done nothing of the sort and have now hired their own legal representation.

“The time and date they allege we did this, we were sitting in front of the TV watching the Survivor finale with our 12-year-old daughter," says the defendant.

“It felt like a shakedown from the first letter we got from this law firm. It never felt like anything other than that," says an area woman involved in the case. “The time and date they allege we did this, we were sitting in front of the TV watching the Survivor finale with our 12-year-old daughter."

The woman, whose lawyer asked KHOU for anonymity, explains that the tastefully-named First Time Videos and its Houston attorney Douglas McIntyre are asking for a settlement of $3,400. When CultureMap reached out to McIntyre on Thursday, he said he was too busy to discuss the case at this time.

“They’re not accusing you of downloading Bambi,” the woman defendant says. “They do it with porn because they know people are embarrassed and ashamed. Even if they didn’t do it, they don’t want to be associated with it.”

Another adult movie company named K-Beech was more aggressive with Pasadena resident Tom Vaughn when it named him in a lawsuit claiming that he pirated the film Virgins 4.

“I’m telling you I didn’t do it,” he explains. “I use my Internet mostly [to] play fantasy football . . . That’s about all I do on mine.”

He claims to have never heard of the movie and notes that he has no idea how to download movies, much like the elderly couple in Deer Park that K-Beech accused in February.

“I took a course on Windows 2000 just so I could learn to operate the computer,” Vaughn says.

As similar lawsuits continue to pop up across the nation, lawyers are determining the accuracy of investigators hired by the adult film industry.

Watch the KHOU report:

Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Beyonce Super Bowl

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”

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