Prominent Porn Agent Sued by Adult-Film Actress
In Netflix’s 2015 documentary, Hot Girls Wanted, Riley Reynolds, now 29, was portrayed as a clean cut, business-minded alternative to the sleazy porn agent stereotype, taking young amateur hopefuls under his wing, moving them into South Florida “model apartments” and guiding their careers through his talent agency, Hussie Models LLC. Sure, Reynolds had a preference for young-looking “teeny boppers,” and predicted the talent pool would never dry up, since “everyday another girl turns 18”; but overall, he came across in the movie as a likeable entrepreneur working hard on behalf of his clients. One critic even described Reynolds as “less as a porn Svengali and more as a den father of sorts.”
Not according to adult film actress Lenna Lux, he isn’t. Lux has filed a lawsuit against Reynolds accusing him of lying about his credentials for the last three years, and despite claiming to be a licensed and bonded talent agent, he has never been authorized to work as an agent in Florida. As a result, Lux’s suit argues that Reynolds should not have been able to collect a portion of her (or any other clients’) earnings; according to a a cease-and-desist letter sent to Reynolds’ attorney, Lux also claims that over the course of her working relationship with Reynolds, she was charged with thousands of dollars in fees and “used that debt as a means to control her while exploiting her.” When she sought out other work, Lux alleges, Reynolds tried to have her blacklisted.
According to a report from The Daily Beast, these are not isolated incidents. In addition to a long list of criminal charges over the years, the website details similar allegations levied against Reynolds by two other performers, accusing him of theft, deception and trafficking — defined in Florida as “force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of sexual exploitation” — though neither ultimately filed charges. While Lux’s lawsuit is headed for civil court, if the case catches the attention of prosecutors, a criminal investigation could follow, as her allegation that Reynolds is operating a talent agency without a license is considered a third-degree felony in Florida, and is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Lux first met Reynolds shortly after her 18th birthday, when she responded to his Craigslist post advertising “free trips to Miami,” and then accepted his offer to pay for her airfare and lodgings during a trip meant to kickstart her adult film career by booking her jobs that would pay a “substantial amount of money.” Shortly after the trip, in January 2018, Lux signed a two-year contract with Hussie Models LLC, giving the agency the exclusive authority to book jobs, along with 15 percent commission. Not long after, she learned the Miami trip was not free and the costs were being deducted from her earnings; Lux also alleges that she was expected to pay $40 per day to live in one of Reynolds’s model houses, and had to cover all travel costs for any job the agency booked for her, as well as paying for hair, makeup and wardrobe.
According to the lawsuit, f the nine jobs Lux says the agency booked for her in the first several months of her contract, she said she was never paid for four, as the agency kept her fees to cover various “debts”; by the start of April 2018, Lux owed Reynolds and Hussie Models LLC nearly $900, and when she tried to quit, the lawsuit alleges, Reynolds refused to let her out of her contract. In an effort to make more money to pay off her debt, Lux started taking jobs through another agency; when Reynolds found out, he insisted that the company forfeit her fees and remove her from their website before charging her with an additional $1,500 to cover the costs of her “contract termination.” When Lux was finally able to end her contract with Hussie Models LLC, the agency invoiced her for a total of $3,525.11.
The Daily Beast confirmed that, according to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Reynolds and Hussie Models LLC have never been licensed in the state of Florida. While Reynolds applied for a license in 2016, he was rejected because of his “alleged criminal record indicating moral turpitude and/or dishonest dealings,” and the court rejected his appeal of the ruling in March 2018.
In a statement to the Daily Beast, Reynolds didn’t address the substance of Lux’s accusations, but said, “Hussie Models LLC is Licensed and Bonded in the State of California and we do not take commission in the state of FL.” He did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Rolling Stone.
According to the State of California’s talent agency license database, Hussie Models LLC is currently licensed until April 2019. But regardless, being licensed in one state doesn’t allow Reynolds to operate in another state, especially when that state has recently doubled down on rejecting his application. And with Netflix’s Hot Girls Wanted documentary readily available to corroborate that Hussie Models LLC was doing significant business in Florida, Reynolds would have a difficult time arguing that Lux, as a Florida-based client, was an outlier.
Shortly after Lux filed her lawsuit, the Daily Beast notes, Reynolds lashed out in a vaguely worded Facebook post. “I have met the biggest pussies and pieces of shit from being in this industry,” he wrote, “and if I could ever be locked in a room with them, the horrible & disgusting things I would do to them. I would go straight to hell…….and I would without hesitation. I dream of it all the time. Screenshot this bitches.”