A federal jury today convicted a gay porn star/escort of extorting $500,000 and a luxury car from a business tycoon who made the hush money payments when threatened with the exposure of his paid sexual encounters with the accused shakedown artist.

After deliberating for two hours, a U.S. District Court panel in Los Angeles found Teofil Brank, 25, guilty of six felony counts in a scheme that targeted Donald Burns, a 51-year-old businessman with waterfront estates in Palm Beach, La Jolla, and Nantucket.

Brank, who has been in custody since his arrest in March, faces a maximum of 53 years in prison when he is sentenced in September by Judge John Walters.

According to court records and transcripts, Brank (seen at right) threatened to post incriminating photos of Burns to Twitter--along with “embarrassing information” about the businessman’s sexual past--unless he received hefty hush money payments.

In response to the threats, Burns initially wired $500,000 from his Goldman Sachs account into Brank’s bank account and also gave the porn star (who used the stage name “Jarec Wentworth”) his Audi R8, which investigators valued at $180,000.

When Brank demanded an additional $1 million and an L.A. condo in return for his continued silence, Burns contacted the FBI.

Burns (seen below) testified at trial that he paid Brank and several other porn actors for sex. He also admitted paying some of the men referral fees for introducing him to other sexual partners. Burns told jurors that his paid liaisons were “a way to have sexual contact without commitment and I had the resources to do it." He also claimed that the encounters were a way for him to cope with the demise of a lengthy relationship.

Justin Griggs, one of the escorts paid by Burns, testified yesterday that the businessman flew him and other young men to his Palm Beach and Nantucket homes, where, “It was really just hanging out, surfing, grilling out, going to dinner, and then we would have sex, group sex.”

Burns, a regular on the society circuit, made his fortune through the 1997 sale of a telecommunications firm he co-founded. He also chairs the board of Magicjack Vocaltec Ltd., the publicly held company that produces the magicJack Internet phone device.