Male Escort Told FBI He Feared David Geffen

JULY 9--A gay porn star who moonlighted as a paid escort recently told FBI agents that he did not want to discuss details of his relationship with David Geffen because the billionaire was very powerful, adding that his hesitance grew out of fear for his own safety, according to a court transcript.

Appearing yesterday as a government witness at the extortion trial of another porn star/hooker, Justin Griggs referred to Geffen, 72, during his cross-examination by Ashfaq Chowdhury, defense lawyer for Teofil Brank. Brank, 25, is accused of extorting $500,000 and an auto from tycoon Donald Burns in return for keeping details of their paid sexual liaisons secret.

During his testimony in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Griggs (seen at right) told jurors that the 51-year-old Burns flew him--and other young men--to his homes in Nantucket and Palm Beach, where he was paid for sex. “It was really just hanging out, surfing, grilling out, going to dinner, and then we would have sex, group sex,” Griggs testified. The following morning, Griggs added, Burns gave the imported talent envelopes with cash.

When Chowdhury asked Griggs if Burns had also given him money for dental work, the escort said that the cash had come “from another friend of mine.” Then, referring to an FBI report of an interview Griggs did with agents, Chowdhury asked Griggs about statements he had made about not wanting to provide investigators with “details about an individual because he was very powerful and you feared for the safety if you disclose information.”

“Who were you talking about there?,” Chowdhury asked.

Prosecutor Eddie Jauregui objected to Chowdhury’s question, but was overruled by Judge John Walter.

“It was, should I give you the name of the person?,” Griggs asked.

“Yes,” Chowdhury replied.

“David Geffen,” said Griggs.

It is unclear from a transcript of Griggs’s testimony whether Geffen (pictured at left) was the other “friend” who paid for the escort's dental work.

After eliciting Geffen’s name, Chowdhury moved on to further questions about Griggs’s relationship to Burns, who met Griggs through another escort. That hooker had originally sent Griggs a text message asking, “Do you want to meet a wealthy person and make some money?” Griggs testified that the solicitation was accompanied with a “little penis-shaped emoji.”

In a March interview with FBI agents, Burns said that he had provided “monetary support” to Griggs, who lived in Birmingham, Alabama. Burns, agents noted, said this support was “given under a ‘helping hand’ context as opposed to extortion.” The businessman told federal investigators he “felt inclined to help Griggs during hard times.”

The Brank case has been exhaustively covered by the wildly NSFW Str8UpGayPorn.com web site, which mixes trial reports with explicit photos of witnesses (and many, many other guys). (3 pages)