Brank got money, car from victim.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: In a sordid scenario with all the makings of a soap opera plotline, a male pornographic actor and escort was found guilty Friday of blackmailing a telecommunications executive, forcing him to turn over $500,000 and a car worth nearly $180,000 so details of his paid sexual liaisons with the defendant and other X-rated professionals wouldn’t be revealed on social media.
Teo Brank, 25, — who performs under the name Jarec Wentworth in adult films and on gay porn sites — was arrested in March in an FBI sting after an agent posing as the alleged extortion victim’s friend met with the actor at a Starbucks in El Segundo, California and handed over title to an Audi R8 and discussed transfer of $1 million, according to MyNewsLA.com.
Evidence presented during the trial proved that weeks earlier, tycoon and political donor Donald Burns had given Brank $500,000 and his Audi after the extortionist threatened to “bring your house down” by posting details of the multi-millionaire’s paid sexual encounters, reported Westside Today.
“I’m just going to bite hard,” Brank wrote in a text message that was disclosed at trial. “I want a new car, motorcycle, and both hands full of cash.”
Burns, who is partial owner of the Internet phone company Magicjack and controls the Donald A. Burns Foundation, testified during the three-day trial that he paid men for sex to avoid emotional entanglements.
Per MyNewsLA.com:
Prosecutors said that Brank had a two-year relationship with Burns in which the executive paid him $2,000 per sexual encounter, then asked the actor to introduce him to other male escorts, offering Brank a $2,000 “referral” for each introduction, and more if he joined in.
The defense maintained that Burns “groomed and mentored” Brank, offering to help him launch a modeling career away from porn but then reneged on the promise and broke off their friendship.
Defense attorney Seema Ahmad told jurors that Burns paid Brank not because he was worried about his reputation, but because he truly owed Brank the money and car for services rendered.
Burns’ reputation was never threatene” because the executive made no secret of his private life and there was nothing to expose, Ahmad said, adding that Brank “only asked for the money he deserved.”
Heavy reported that several gay porn stars have come out in support of Brank, who could face multiple years in federal prison at his Sept. 21 sentencing hearing.
One star, Billy Santoro, took to Twitter to write, “If had a nickel for every time a ‘client’ tried to extort me, I would be a billionaire. Finally, what goes around, comes around. #TeamJarec”
Another performer, Brandon Moore, posted, “I’d have rather kept the company of an extortionist than that of a closet case profiting off an indoctrinated working class. #freeteo”