Michael James Pratt, from Christchurch, was arrested in Madrid on Wednesday. He was staying in a hotel under a false identity, Reuters reported.
Pratt was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, a list that previously included serial killer Ted Bundy and 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden.
An FBI statement said Pratt was wanted on 19 charges, including sex trafficking, production of child pornography, sex trafficking of a minor and money laundering. He has been on the run since 2019 and authorities had offered $100,000 for information about him.
Pratt was detained by Spanish authorities while the United States sought an extradition warrant.
The charges against him related to a website he operated called GirlsDoPorn. It was alleged that he tricked women into becoming online porn stars, and used the pornography to earn $17 million ($30 million).
The Spanish police announced the arrest on Twitter and published a video of officers handcuffing and frisking a man.
Pratt, who grew up in Christchurch, moved to the United States in 2009.
Prosecutors in the US say Pratt, who ran the now-defunct websites for about seven years, forced hundreds of women to appear in pornographic videos under false pretenses.
They allege that Pratt – along with another New Zealander and accomplice Matthew Wolfe and others – lured unsuspecting women with advertisements for clothed modeling appearances.
The women, many of whom were struggling financially, were offered between $3,000 and $5,000 in payment, as well as an “all expenses” trip to San Diego.
“They repeatedly assure the victims that they will never publish the videos online and that the women will remain anonymous,” according to a civil claim that has subsequently been successful in US courts.
When it was revealed that it was filming for adult videos, the victims thought the footage would only be distributed to private clients in faraway places like Australia or New Zealand.
However, the videos soon came online, which prosecutors say was always the plan of Pratt, Wolfe and a third person, an American man named Ruben Andre Garcia, a porn actor and producer who has already been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
If the women ever changed their minds about filming or completing the scenes, they were threatened with legal action, or told their flights home would be canceled, or that the footage would be sent to friends or family.