LOS ANGELES — The first day of the sentencing hearing for LA Direct Models’ Derek Hay, who pleaded guilty in May to one charge of conspiracy to commit pandering and a charge of perjury, took place in Los Angeles Wednesday.
As XBIZ reported, Hay’s plea was part of a plea agreement with the California attorney general in the criminal case against him and two co-defendants. He is currently out on probation, and is facing a maximum of 270 days in county jail plus two years of probation.
A grand jury indicted Hay alongside his co-defendants in September 2022. The former agent was arraigned in March 2023.
Hay first faced criminal pandering charges in California in March 2020, stemming from accusations made during a “Jane Does” labor case that involved five models, former clients who petitioned against him and his agency before the California Labor Commission.
The 2020 felony charges and the September 2022 grand jury indictment are connected to the five Jane Doe models’ original 2018 civil filings and their 2019 testimony before the Labor Board. The performers later self-identified as Charlotte Cross, Shay Evans, Sofi Ryan, Andi Rye and Hadley Viscara.
The five performers were given the chance to read impact statements before Hay and the court. A sixth former LA Direct client, Bobbi Dylan, sent a written statement to be read out.
Rye told the court, “I was led to believe that I could trust Derek and his agency to manage my career with my best interests in mind. I wanted to be an adult film performer. But through a pipeline, I became a prostitute.”
In a reply statement during Wednesday’s hearing, Hay described Rye as “a strange person to stand before the court and make allegations,” because he contends he “almost never spoke” to her.
Rye and other women told the court that “Hay would pressure his clients into performing sex work,” Courthouse News Service reported. “If they refused, he would sometimes threaten to blacklist them from the adult entertainment industry.”
Ryan told the court that the day she met Hay, her life turned upside-down.
“Soon, I would be sexually assaulted, manipulated into escorting and lied to,” explained Ryan, who dated Hay during part of their professional association, according to her and the agent’s testimonies during a 2019 Labor Board hearing. “I was promised I would be a star with this massive career. Ultimately, I was punished because Derek wanted to control me but couldn’t.”
Reflecting on the criminal case’s outcome, Hay told the court, “I got myself into this. I got my feet too close to the flame.”
State prosecutor Jeff Segal labeled Hay “a malignant narcissist who didn’t express remorse or empathy,” Courthouse News Service reported.
“Mr. Hay just had the opportunity to express some remorse, some empathy, to reflect on mistakes he’s made,” Segal noted. “Instead, he took the time to talk about how he is the real victim. He got some bad press out of being charged with these crimes. He took the time to attack the victims.”
Hay’s attorney Richard Freeman described the hearing to XBIZ as “a very hard day for Derek Hay.”
“Derek was there to express remorse and to acknowledge responsibility for what he agreed to plead guilty to, and then he got confronted with additional stuff that he didn’t do,” Freeman added, noting that some of the allegations made by Hay’s former clients are still the subject of ongoing litigation in civil court.
Freeman also said that Hay’s team has provided information to the judge asking her to impose less than the maximum of nine months in county jail in his plea agreement.
The next day of the sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 2.