They knew the model was underage but continued to sell videos

Cobra Video was told they had an underage model on August 16, 2005 but apparently did nothing. I reported to ASACP on September 12, 2005. Cobra had this information for a month and continued to sell videos. This is the actual email conversation--I have edited out the personal names.





From: CobraVideo@aol.com
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 19:26:10 EDT
Subject: Re: Reminders
To: b@yahoo.com


Brent,

You truly must think I'm stupid, but I've heard the "other" rumors, and I know what you and G. are up to. I'll be in touch.

Bryan

In a message dated 8/16/2005 4:19:59 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, b@yahoo.com writes:

Bryan,



This is a follow up to our phone conversation today. As I told you on the phone, I’m 18 years old and my birthday is 10-31-1986, as we discussed. C. and I met when I was 16 years old. When I turned 17, C. had told you I was turning 18 so that I would be able to participate in this company. At the time, I did not fully comprehend what I was getting myself into. All the original documents that were given to you were forged by C. personally. Later documents we obtained together, C. showed me where to get these. Due to the situation with my family, or absence there of, I was pretty much on my own. I sincerely believe that for the time being, and especially considering the situation with C., that I hold off on coming back to Pennsylvania for now. Possibly, a couple of months depending on how things unravel. In the mean time, I am meeting with a lawyer regarding my legal standing. The fulfillment of the contract can be discussed at a later date, when things can be decided in a more rational state.


CobraVideo@aol.com wrote:

This is a pretty sad day for the industry. While Brent is definitely a total piece of shit for falsifying his ID, it's certainly not the first time that an underage performer has been discovered.

The other studios that this has happened to were quick to pull the product and move on. What's different here is that, with the emails Chad just disclosed, it's clear that the owner of Cobra *KNEW* without any question that Brent was underage and simply sat back and continued to let the cash roll in.

If he suspected Brent was lying, and how high the stakes were, he could have asked for a certified copy of a birth certificate, or flown to CA and gone to the DMV for verification... with the kind of quantities that video sold, the money should definitely have been there to verify things.

But instead, he did nothing at all. This is incredibly irresponsible both for his own business and, in the current political climate, for the industry as a whole.

As this thing has come about, I've thought a lot about what we'd do in that situation. Yes, we'd be unbelievably pissed at the model and seeking whatever legal recompense we could, but we'd also be taking every possible step to protect ourselves and to maintain a good relationship with our distributors, retailers, and end-user customers. Of course, we understand good business practices. Perhaps Cobra does not.

I suppose it is events like this that get the government stepping in with 2257 etc. - I'm not defending 2257 at all and doubt it would have made a difference in the case anyways.

No excuse for a company of that size.

No offense to those anxiously awaiting the results of what is going to happen with all of this, but are emails sent between the producer to the model or lawyer any business of ours? Shouldn't that be considered confidential atleast until this entire thing is over?

I want to find out more information about this as much as the next person, but I would consider the integrity of this investigation to be a little bit higher than "us" reading copies of documents that should be strictly kept between the producer, the model, and the legal representatives of each.

Just the 2 cents of myself and legal friends.

Innocence dwells with Wisdom, but never with Ignorance.
William Blake
(1757 - 1827)