While Althaus never publicly confirmed the video was hers, pageant officials did not wait for a confession. The Miss Colorado Teen USA pageant—a state feeder to the Miss USA and Miss Universe organizations—immediately took action.
The lawsuit alleges that Pornhub and its parent company did not just host the material, but actively capitalized on her trauma. Despite Althaus sending explicit, desperate notices to the platform stating that the videos were filmed under duress and uploaded entirely without her consent, the company initially refused to remove them.
Althaus’s ascent was a traditional pageant success story. Competing as Miss Boulder County, she embodied the quintessential contestant: talented, articulate, and dedicated to her platform of preventing distracted driving. Her victory at the Miss Teen Colorado pageant was supposed to be a launching pad for greater opportunities, including scholarships and a year of public service. However, the triumph was ephemeral. Shortly after the crowning, anonymous individuals forwarded pageant officials a series of photographs from a private Facebook account. The images depicted Althaus in lingerie and suggestive poses, including one where she appeared to be holding what looked like a glass pipe, though no drugs were ever confirmed to be present. The photos were not from a public modeling portfolio but were apparently remnants of a rebellious teenage phase, never intended for the eyes of pageant judges or sponsors. Mis Teen Colorado Kristy Althaus
The traffickers intentionally packaged and marketed her video using the title ensuring that anyone searching for her name would find the explicit material. This targeted doxxing completely derailed her college education and personal life. Fighting Back: The Lawsuit Against Pornhub
was arrested in Spain in 2022 after being on the FBI's Most Wanted list, and co-conspirators like Michael Isaac Wolfe have since been sentenced for their roles in the trafficking operation. While Althaus never publicly confirmed the video was
In 2023, Althaus filed a lawsuit against Pornhub and its parent company (Aylo, formerly MindGeek), alleging she was a victim of sex trafficking.
is a former contestant in the Miss Teen Colorado USA pageant whose promising path in pageantry and modeling was tragically interrupted by a high-profile sex trafficking scheme . In 2012, Althaus was named first runner-up in the Miss Teen Colorado USA pageant, a title that represented hard work, ambition, and the pursuit of a modeling career. Despite Althaus sending explicit, desperate notices to the
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