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Visa and the Pornhub CSAM lawsuit: what the judge ruled—and what happened next

A 2022 ruling allowed a conspiracy claim against Visa to proceed at the pleading stage, not to trial as a finding of liability. A September 2025 order later dismissed Fleites’s Second Amended Complaint; the subsequent docket status is unclear from the available records.
From TheFinanceBase Team3 min to read
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Visa was not found liable or ordered to face a trial in the latest ruling described here. In 2022, a judge allowed one claim against the payment company to proceed past the initial dismissal stage. On September 26, 2025, a district court granted Visa’s motion to dismiss Serena Fleites’s Second Amended Complaint. The sources available here do not establish whether that order was appealed or what happened on the complete docket afterward.

What the 2022 ruling decided

Serena Fleites and 33 Jane Doe plaintiffs filed suit in June 2021 against MindGeek-related entities, Visa and other defendants. The complaint alleged harms connected to sexual exploitation when Fleites was a minor. In 2022, the court considered Visa’s motion to dismiss the claims against it.

One theory was dismissed; another could proceed

The court dismissed a theory that Visa was liable as a beneficiary under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. It allowed a conspiracy theory to proceed at that stage, based on allegations that Visa knowingly provided payment processing used by MindGeek. These were rulings about whether the pleaded claims could continue—not findings that the allegations were true or that Visa had violated the law.

Why “must face trial” needs context

The original headline described the procedural posture in 2022. When a court denies dismissal of a claim, that claim may continue through litigation; it does not mean the defendant has lost at trial or that a trial is certain. The 2022 order did not find Visa liable.

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What happened to Visa’s case in 2025

On September 26, 2025, after hearings on March 7 and April 24, the Central District of California granted Visa’s motion to dismiss Fleites’s Second Amended Complaint. That later order changes the procedural picture conveyed by the 2022 headline: the claim that had been allowed to proceed at the earlier stage was not still proceeding unchanged under that complaint.

The available account of the September 2025 order does not establish whether Fleites appealed, whether a different complaint or claim remained, or the full status of the litigation after that order. It would therefore be inaccurate to say, on this information alone, either that Visa ultimately went to trial or that every claim in the broader lawsuit ended.

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How the key rulings differ

Date and proceeding What the court did What the ruling does not establish
2022 order on Visa’s motion to dismiss Dismissed the pleaded beneficiary-liability theory and allowed the conspiracy theory to proceed at that stage. It was not a trial verdict, a finding that the allegations were true, or a finding of Visa’s liability.
September 26, 2025 order on Visa’s motion to dismiss the Second Amended Complaint Granted Visa’s motion to dismiss that complaint. The available information does not establish the appeal or complete later docket status.
September 10, 2025 order concerning Colbeck and Redwood defendants Granted those defendants’ motions to dismiss. It was a separate order and should not be treated as the ruling on Visa’s motion.

Is the FTC and Utah matter the same case?

No. In September 2025, the FTC and Utah announced a settlement with operators of Pornhub and other pornography-streaming sites over government allegations that they did too little to block tens of thousands of videos and photos involving child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and nonconsensual material despite saying such content was prohibited. That is a separate government matter; it is not a ruling in Fleites’s civil action against Visa and does not establish Visa’s liability.

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What the case does—and does not—say about payment networks

The 2022 ruling addressed allegations about Visa’s role in processing payments and whether a particular legal theory could continue on the complaint as pleaded. It did not establish that Visa knew specific content was CSAM, determine the truth of the complaint, or create a finding of liability applicable to payment networks generally. The 2025 dismissal likewise concerns the specific complaint and motion before that court, not a general ruling that payment companies can never face claims connected to a merchant’s conduct.

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For the procedural history, the relevant records are the court’s 2022 order on Visa’s motion and the reproduced September 26, 2025 order on the Second Amended Complaint. The current appellate and complete docket status is not established by those records as summarized here.

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  • Funds do not expire but your Visa Virtual eGift Card has a ‘valid thru’ date (9 years from date of purchase). If funds remain after this date has passed, please call the Toll Free number found on your Visa Virtual eGift Card for a replacement card. A one-time purchase fee applies at the time of checkout.
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