Spanish police have arrested one of the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives who was staying at a Madrid hotel under a false identity.
Michael James Pratt, a New Zealand citizen, was sentenced to life in prison in the US for sexual exploitation and sexual assault and for producing images of child sexual abuse, the Telegraph reports.
Police allege Pratt was involved in the production of audiovisual recordings, recruitment of underage girls and young women through fraud between 2012 and 2019.
They believe he earned more than $17 million from these activities. Spanish authorities pointed out that only 57 criminals on the FBI's most wanted list were arrested outside the bureau's jurisdiction, adding that this was the first time it had happened in Spain.
The suspect posted online ads in the US and Canada offering "modeling" jobs, but in fact it was about filming pornographic content.
He paid other women to act as "bait", and convince the victims that the recorded material would not be published online, The Guardian reports.
Victims were sometimes held against their will and forced to perform sexual acts to which they had expressly refused consent.
Pratt had been on the run since November 2019, when a federal warrant was issued for him in California District Court.
In September, the FBI placed him on its most-wanted fugitive list and offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to his arrest, CBS writes. /Telegraph/
