Former TV Personality Stephen Bear Earned £22,305 from Illegally Uploaded Sex Tape on OnlyFans

(CTN News) – Stephen Bear, a former TV personality, pocketed £22,305 after uploading a sex clip without his ex-partner’s knowledge, a court heard.

Stephen Bear, 34, was imprisoned for sharing footage of himself and Love Island’s Georgia Harrison with OnlyFans.

A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing revealed that he received significant revenues from subscribers after publishing the video.

The hearing was adjourned to allow Ms Harrison, a Love Island All Stars contestant, to contribute.

Judge Christopher Morgan stated that the 29-year-old would be asked her opinion on whether she required compensation before he issued a confiscation order for the money.

Ms Harrison, who previously renounced her right to anonymity to speak out about the event, is currently in a reality TV villa in South Africa.

The judge was informed that the original video garnered £1,650.98, but he earned significantly more as his subscriber base grew.

Prosecutor Andrew Bousfield stated that Stephen Bear is not a billionaire. He owns £60,000 in a property and little else.

“When he released the video, Stephen Bear was pretending to be a billionaire on Twitter. “His most valuable asset at the time was selling sex videos.”

Financial inspector Laura Mackenzie stated: “He wasn’t a millionaire. His bank account was overdrawn.

Ms Mackenzie said Stephen Bear’s OnlyFans account had 1,061 subscribers when he submitted the video on November 8, 2020.

This figure climbed by 822 after a month of the video’s release, which was available for $9.99 (£7.95), she added.

In March 2023, a jury sentenced Stephen Bear from Loughton to 21 months in prison for voyeurism and exposing private sexual images and films.

He was freed from HMP Brixton, London, earlier this month.

Ms Mackenzie stated that she computed the £22,305.46 figure based on viewer fees and the number of members he gained.

According to the prosecution, Stephen Bear “refused to provide information he was required to”.

“The Twitter billionaire is not prepared to stand in the witness box but stays in the dock,” Mr Bousfield told the court.

“What he is actually doing is dancing in the shadows here. He is unwilling to disclose how much he received from OnlyFans.”

Gemma Rose, mitigating, stated that it was difficult to determine what a “regular amount” of membership growth Stephen Bear would have had in the month after the video’s publication.

However, Judge Morgan concurred with the prosecution’s calculations.

He said Stephen Bear had raised the cost of his subscription fee and the amount individuals had to pay to watch the video.

“That is made up from monies obtained from the video payment wall [and] monies obtained from the subscription increase, applying changes in the value of money in both,” the judge said.

Accompanied by family members, Stephen Bear appeared in court wearing a black suit.

In a previous civil lawsuit, he was ordered to pay Ms Harrison almost £200,000 in damages. However, the court heard that none of that had yet been paid.

His criminal prosecution heard that, while the sex was consensual, Ms Harrison was unaware that the tape, recorded in Stephen Bear’s backyard, was being extensively disseminated.

The hearing was continued to March 4th.