Disgraced reality TV star Stephen Bear may have to sell his house and car to pay back the money he made from posting a revenge porn tape onto his Onlyfans account. Bear, 33, was jailed for one year and nine months last week after being found guilty of posting a video he secretly took of himself having sex with Love Island star Georgia Harrison in his garden.
Despite his pleas of innocence, London-born Bear was convicted of one count of voyeurism and two counts of disclosing private videos. The clip was uploaded to Only Fans on November 8 with the caption: “Morning everyone. Can’t wait for you to see me f****** in my garden. Here’s a sneak peak. I will be dropping this video tonight.”
Chelmsford Crown Court heard 273 people viewed the video for $9.99 each - making Bear around £2,100. Overall, Bear made just shy of £40,000, on OnlyFans from October 2020 up until its deactivation in early December, the Mirror reports.
After jailing him, Judge Christopher Morgan set a timetable for a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing. The legal proceedings are launched when a defendant has benefited financially from criminal activity, for example from fraud or drug dealing.
The Crown claws money back from defendants so that crime does not pay. The money is then divided between the police and Home Office.
Speaking after the sentencing hearing, Hannah Von Dadelszen, deputy chief crown prosecutor for Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) East of England, said Bear has been ordered to hand over a list of assets by the end of the month.
She said: "We have started the process for there to be a Proceeds of Crime assessment in relation to Mr Bear. He committed these offences to make money off it, and we think it's right that he shouldn't be allowed to benefit from that criminal activity.
"Proceeds of Crime Act hearings allow us to deprive a defendant of their benefits of criminal conduct. It's not a large amount of money in this case but the principle still stands whether or not the sum of money is large."
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Ms Von Dadelszen said Bear will be forced to sell any assets he has to pay the debt if he does not have cash at the bank.
She said: "That first stage of making a declaration of assets does enable that consideration. You might not have the ready cash but you have a house or a car."
She said Bear would only be liable for the money prosecutors believe he specifically made from the video with Harrison - which stands at around £2,100 - and not the full amount he made on OnlyFans which is believed to be around £40,000.
During the sentencing hearing, Bear's barrister Gemma Rose said he was struggling to make mortgage payments and was concerned about losing his house in Loughton, Essex.
The court heard he has found it difficult to get television work in the wake of his arrest. Bear is also liable to pay some £3,500 in prosecution costs, the court heard.
The CPS said the recovery of this money was on hold pending the Proceeds of Crime hearing. Miss Harrison is also believed to be pursuing compensation through the civil courts - which is separate to the criminal court proceedings.
A spokesperson for OnlyFans said it has put new procedures in place since the incident. It now requires creators uploading adult content featuring another person to upload a signed release form, or to tag them if they are also an OnlyFans creator.
A spokesperson said: "All creators are personally legally responsible for the content which they share on OnlyFans. OnlyFans does not tolerate the sharing of non consensual intimate images (NCII) on our platform.
"Any creator who uploads, or attempts to upload, NCII is in clear breach of OnlyFans Terms of Service and will be banned from OnlyFans.
“Due to OnlyFans’ extensive creator verification process, unlike most sites, creators cannot share content anonymously. This allowed us to work closely with the Crown Prosecution Service ahead of this trial and to provide them with the information they needed to assist with this successful criminal prosecution.”
