Roger Federer will be back on Centre Court at Wimbledon on Tuesday

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A former beauty pageant queen has made new allegations in a federal lawsuit claiming she was sex trafficked and raped on the orders of an infamous pornography producer. Kirsty Althaus was the runner-up in the Miss Teen Colorado USA Pageant in 2013, but was forced to give up the title when she was found to be in online pornography videos, with her name in the title. A copy of the lawsuit, filed on 8 September, was obtained by The Daily Beast, which said she made allegations against a series of inter-related companies, such as Aylo (formerly known as MindGeek, the parent company of sites like PornHub), and Ethical Capital Partners, a private equity firm that acquired Aylo back in March. She is suing Aylo and Ethical Capital Partners for aiding and abetting sex trafficking, profiting from sex trafficking and advertising a victim of sex trafficking. Ms Althaus is setting her claims against Michael Pratt, the owner of Girls Do Porn, a shut-down company, who was arrested back in December 2022 for allegedly coercing hundreds of women into making sex tapes and then distributing them without their consent, the Daily Beast reports. Girls Do Porn was set up in 2006 by Mr Pratt, from New Zealand, which specialised in producing pornography of only younger women between 18 and 22. Ms Althaus, from Colorado, wanted to have a professional modelling career. She posed for companies such as Kohl’s and Champion, as well as competing and being runner-up in the Miss Teen Colorado pageant in 2012, reports Daily Beast. A year later, she left school at 18, wanting to focus on her modelling career. She saw an advertisement on Craigslist offering a paid modelling opportunity, with expenses paid such as flying her out to San Diego. "Rather than the mere headshots and clothing photoshoot (sic) that she had agreed to fly to San Diego to do, Pratt began demanding that Plaintiff film nude and sexually explicit videos. When Plaintiff refused, Pratt, now 41, and his conspirators immediately pressured her and plied her with booze and pills to soften her reluctance," the lawsuit states. The lawsuit stated she endured “protracted filming”, where Ms Althaus had to endure approximately nine hours of non-consensual sex, to the point she started to bleed. In one shoot, Mr Pratt was so infuriated with Ms Althaus and her pleas to stop that he broke a hotel lamp and got out his gun, according to the lawsuit. Ms Althaus describes in the lawsuit as being harassed over text by Mr Pratt, after she returned to college, to make more videos and threatened to make her original video public if she refused, as screenshots obtained by Fox News show. “You better be here by noon shoot 2tomorrow or your graveyard,” one text included in the lawsuit read. The lawsuit stated that in January 2014 a text from an anonymous number came up on Ms Althaus’ phone while she was sitting in class, it said: “Told you b****.” Ms Atlhuas then saw that all her videos became live on Twitter, PornHub and other pornography websites, Daily Beast reports. In the lawsuit, she said that she started to suffer “severe distress and anxiety;” she found it hard to keep strong relationships, people would recognise her on the street and students at her college would harass her. She goes on to say that she would lose jobs once her employers discovered she had appeared in a pornography video. She claimed she tried to report how she was sex trafficked and raped to MindGeek, where the video was being distributed, but said she was ignored due to their focus on making “millions of dollars” off the content, the lawsuit reads. Although she changed her name, and the video is now ten years old, she is still harassed due to what happened in her past, Ms Althaus said in the lawsuit. “Unidentified men continue to approach Plaintiff’s home at all hours of the day and night,” her lawsuit reads, “As recently as May-June 2023, Plaintiff was assaulted at her home by a self-described PornHub subscriber who confronted her about the recent removal of the subject videos from Defendants’ websites.” Mr Pratt was included on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in 2022 for three months until he was captured in Spain. Pratt was charged in a 19-count indictment with sex trafficking, production of child pornography, sex trafficking of a minor, and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments in connection with the operation of the GirlsDoPorn adult website, according to the FBI. He was on the run for years, fleeing in 2019 after 22 women filed a lawsuit in 2017 claiming he and his co-conspirators for conning the women into making pornography videos and then lying about distributing the footage. He said the videos would only be sold to private collectors solely on DVDs and small video stores not located in the US, but the videos ended up on famous pornography websites, sometimes putting their names in the title. Ms Althaus’ lawsuit also names GirlsDoPorn co-conspirators, Michael Isaac Wolfe and Andre Garcia. Garcia is currently serving a 20-year sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of sex trafficking in November 2020, according to the United States Attorney’s Office. Wolfe was sentenced in October 2022 for admitting to coercing prospective models into filming videos for Girls Do Porn, then lying to them saying the videos would not be distributed in the United States, says the Attorney’s Office. According to the Daily Beast, Ms Althaus is now another woman coming forward to relay the alleged abhorrent crimes committed against her. She claims she was deceived into filming nonconsensual sex scenes by Mr Pratt, saying she was raped, drugged, physically abused and blackmailed by both Pratt and his associates. The lawsuit that was brought forward by the 22 women in 2017 included similar harrowing stories, such as being “assaulted”. This previous lawsuit resulted in Girls Do Porn being ordered to pay $12.8m in damages as well as ownership rights to the videos they featured in. Between October and November 2019, six people were charged on counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, with a further two people charged in December with obstruction of sex trafficking enforcement. MindGeek, now Aylo, was also under fire in 2021 when 40 women sued the company for knowingly profiting from Girls Do Porn content. The judge ordered a “discovery into its corporate structure, finances, operations, and ownership to determine which entities and persons should remain in the case,” says law firm Brown Rudnick LLP. In a statement to The Daily Beast, Aylo declined to comment on the lawsuit but said they looked forward to “the facts being fully and fairly aired” in court. “The safety of our community is our number one priority, so we are proud to have instituted Trust and Safety policies that surpass those of any other major user-generated platform on the internet,” Aylo said in a statement. “Our compliance program has helped us set the standard for the tech industry, and we are committed to remaining at the forefront of this important area.” The Independent has contacted both Aylo and Ethical Capital Partners for comment. We have also asked if they have filed a position statement or defences, as it is not clear at this time. Read More Reddit users post pornography and switch forums to ‘NSFW’ in latest protest against site’s management We’re not being taught enough about sex ed and porn in class, say children Rise of the post-truth sex tape: Deepfake pornography is making women’s online lives even more frightening

A father-of-three who was told he looked like “Casper the ghost” before being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and given three weeks to live, meaning he has planned his own Requiem Mass and funeral, has defied doctors’ expectations by outliving his prognosis by more than a year and said he is going to “keep fighting”. Dennis Blackman, 62, a former chartered building surveyor and carer who lives in Eltham, London, said he has always been active – playing rugby, lifting weights, and going to the gym at least three times a week. However this all changed when he suffered an unexpected stroke in 2015. His health deteriorated over the following years, he had a hip replacement at 58, and after experiencing symptoms of extreme exhaustion, cold hands, and muscle weakness in early 2022, his wife Sally, 62, a former flooring showroom manager, suggested he book a doctor’s appointment. After weeks of blood tests and blood transfusions in hospital and being told he looked like “Casper the ghost” because he was so pale, he underwent a bone marrow biopsy, and this led to the devastating news in March 2022 that he has AML – a type of blood cancer – and three weeks to live. Dennis told PA Real Life: “I just broke down and I had this unbelievable feeling of guilt because I said to the consultant: ‘What have I done wrong? How do I tell my children and wife?’ “It’s a huge burden to put on someone, to tell them that you’re dying and it’s going to be very quick. “We had many dark days, and every time I looked into my children’s eyes I just burst into tears… it was a very emotional period for all of us.” Dennis, who has lost 50kg (7st 9lbs) since his diagnosis, did not start chemotherapy until months later due to him being too weak, and in January 2023, he was told the chemotherapy was “not working any more”. From that point on, he said he wanted to “enjoy each day” rather than pursuing more aggressive forms of treatment – and since then, he has planned his own Requiem Mass with hymns such as How Great Thou Art and Ave Maria (As I Kneel Before You), as well as the arrangements for his funeral. Now, Dennis continues to drive, go shopping, and enjoy time with his family, and he said he is going to “keep fighting” during the time he has left as “you only have one life”. “Every day you go to bed and you think: ‘Am I going to wake up tomorrow?’ And then each morning you think: ‘Is it going to be today that I’m going to die?’” Dennis explained. “It was extremely difficult in the beginning and I tried to shut the world out… but as time went on, I realised you can’t live like this forever. “You only get one life, so I’m going to do everything I can to keep fighting.” During his 40s and early 50s, Dennis said he enjoyed going out for meals with his wife Sally, playing rugby with his sons James, 37, and Joe, 31, and keeping fit by going to the gym several times a week. He foresaw spending his days in retirement with his family, out in the garden, or fishing, but he said this all changed when he had a stroke in 2015, aged 54, and his health declined from then on. In early 2022, he spent six weeks at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in London after noticing some unusual symptoms and was told: “You look like Casper (the ghost), you’re very anaemic.” He then underwent several blood tests and blood transfusions, and although he had “an idea” that he may have cancer, he said he could never have prepared himself for his diagnosis on March 31 2022. “About one o’clock, I had a knock at the door and I thought: ‘That’s ominous’,” Dennis said. “The consultant and the specialist nurse came in and they said: ‘Unfortunately it’s bad news, you’ve got severe AML and there’s not a lot we can do at this stage.’ “’You’ve got three weeks to live, and I’d advise you to go home and tell your wife and family, and make sure everything’s in order because you haven’t got long left’.” Given Dennis has severe neutropenia as well – a low number of white blood cells – he is at a higher risk of contracting serious infections, and this meant he missed several family celebrations in the months that followed, including his grandson’s birthday party and stepdaughter’s wedding. He developed multiple chest infections and fevers and was not deemed fit enough to start chemotherapy straight away, and he ended up spending three months in hospital from July to October. “We thought we were going to lose him, he was so ill,” Sally, who has been married to Dennis for 10 years, explained. “Even the consultant thought we were going to lose him. “I was scared because I just thought: ‘How can this be happening when we’ve only just met each other?’ We just thought we were going to have the rest of our lives together.” However, Dennis, who is Catholic, said he “fought and prayed every day”, adding: “I said to the consultant: ‘If you promise to me you won’t give up on me medically, I promise I’ll fight this all the way.’” Dennis was determined to get better and, with the help of a physiotherapist, he built up his strength – and at one point, he was walking 10,000 steps a day along the hospital corridor. Towards the end of October 2022, Dennis said “everything seemed hunky dory” and he commenced the first of four rounds of chemotherapy, where he experienced nausea, exhaustion, and “tremendous leg bone pain”. By January, he was told the chemotherapy was “not working”, but rather than trying other forms of treatment, he said he wanted to “enjoy the little things” and the time he has left. He has planned his own Requiem Mass and funeral to relieve any pressure from his family, but also to give him “strength” and some control over his destiny – and aside from his regular check-ups and blood tests each week, he is setting himself small milestones, such as attending a Madness concert at the O2 in December. Although he is “struggling to survive”, he said he would do “anything to get another day” – and that is why he is holding onto hope and wants to encourage others never to give up. “Even though I pray every day, not once have I asked God to take it away from me – all I ask is that He’s with me when I need him, to give me the strength to carry on fighting,” he said. “Leukaemia is painful and every day I question whether I’ll see another day, but we just try and keep going and I hope that my story gives hope to others. “I’ve still got lots of memories to make yet, so I’m going to fight this all the way.” For more information and support, visit Leukaemia Care’s website at leukaemiacare.org.uk Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live One in 10 ‘spending beyond their means’ – try these 7 cutbacks guaranteed to save families money What is combination cholesterol therapy, as study suggests it could save lives? Cancer cases in young people ‘are rising’ – the warning signs to look out for

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The White House on Wednesday strongly denied that the US government posed any threat to an ex-Senate staffer who has claimed President Joe Biden sexually assaulted her in a Senate office building hallway in the 1990s. The former staffer, Tara Reade, announced on Tuesday that she has moved to Russia, where she said during an interview with the state-owned Sputnik News website that she feels “surrounded by protection and safety” there. Asked about her claims in light of her announcement that she has moved to Russia and is seeking citizenship there, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby replied: “We'd be loath to comment on the on the musings of a potential Russian citizen.” Pressed further on whether the White House believes her allegations against Mr Biden could have been movtivated by an affinity for Russia, Mr Kirby said he “could not get inside her head and speak for her motivations and intentions”. But he did specifically address Ms Reade’s claim that she has moved to Russia because the US government was a risk to her life, calling those allegations “absolutely false” and “baseless”. “There’s nothing to that,” he added. Ms Reade, who worked for Mr Biden during a brief period in 1993, accused the then-former vice president of touching her inappropriately in 2019, when Mr Biden was contemplating entry into the 2020 presidential election. In mid-2020, when he was poised to secure the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, she claimed he’d sexually assaulted her in a heavily-trafficked hallway in the Russell Senate Office Building. Mr Biden has strenuously denied the allegations. The former Senate staffer’s credibility took a hit after news outlets began scrutinizing her background after she made the assault allegations against Mr Biden. A university she attended, Antioch University, disputed her claim to have earned a Bachelor’s degree while studying there, and former associates came forward to recount instances in which they’d felt she’d been dishonest or deceitful in her dealings with them. A well known attorney, Douglas Wigdor, terminated an attorney-client relationship with her in May 2020 after it was revealed that she had not earned a degree from Antioch as she’d claimed publicly. Read More Tara Reade, who accused Biden of sexual assault, says she has ‘defected’ to Russia at event with Kremlin spy