Q: What state jurisdiction does revenge porn fall in if posted about American Citizen but in Mexico.

I had a fling for a couple of months in Mexico. I am an American living in DC and he is a Canadian. We fooled around and filmed it, I don't have a copy of the video. I noticed he posted it on his Only Fans without my explicit consent. He did crop my face out of the video and blur out both my tattoo and birthmark so it is harder to recognize that it is me. Since he posted it in Mexico and it was taken in Mexico I was wondering which state legislation would it fall under. If I live in Washington DC would it be with the local court, especially since he is Canadian? Now I do know the site requires a signed consent form from the model (aka me) in the video so I'm assuming he lied and said that a friend of his is in the video as opposed to me. The website wouldn't have been able to see since my face is not in the. Can I charge him for contract fraud or impersonation? what's the worst criminal charge he can face, is it jail or a big fine for lying on the consent form/contract fraud?

1 Lawyer Answer
Mark Oakley
Mark Oakley
Answered
  • Rockville, MD
  • Licensed in District of Columbia

A: The video appears to have been consensually made, so in most jurisdiction the mere creation of the video would not be a crime. You would need to ask a lawyer in Mexico whether that country prohibits the making of sexually explicit videos when both parties consent. Otherwise, it would not be Mexican law that applies. The posting likely violates most versions of revenge porn statutes that have been enacted, so he would have committed the offense in the jurisdiction where it was uploaded depending on the statute in effect there. For the offense to be prosecuted in DC, it will need to meet the following requirement: the revenge porn shall be "deemed to be committed in the District of Columbia if any part of the violation takes place in the District of Columbia, including when either the person depicted or the person who disclosed or published the sexual image was a resident of, or located in, the District of Columbia at the time that the sexual image was made, disclosed, or published."

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