Who Is Aria Lee? Porn Star Draws Attention For Serving As Her Own Attorney In Lawsuit

Adult film actress Aria Lee has announced that she’ll represent herself in civil court against her alleged rapist.

Adult director Craven Moorehead is suing Lee for defamation in Los Angeles County Superior Court for at least $10 million. Moorehead claims he lost work due to Lee's accusations of sexual assault.

The case was filed on Sept. 25 at the Chatsworth Courthouse. An initial hearing for the case is scheduled for Feb. 26.

Both Lee and Moorehead are prominent figures in the adult film industry.

The incident took place on a film set in late 2019 when Moorehead allegedly lured Lee into a private bathroom and forced her to perform oral sex. Lee says that Moorehead forced the sex act again two months later, characterizing them as “attacks.”

“There has been two other incidents that Craven has been accused of assault or rape and the company has done nothing,” Lee said in a video, reading an anonymous letter to Adult Video News.

The accusations came to light in June, and the Gamma Films Group responsible for the shoots said it had performed an investigation and that “it had been impossible to validate the veracity of the allegations in question.” Three days later, Gamma said it had received additional information and terminated its contract with Moorehead.

Moorehead calls the accusations “false and defamatory.” He is suing Lee for her accusations, saying they not only cost him his income but forced him to face “public contempt, ridicule, disgrace, shame, and humiliation.”

Lee wrote in her response that Moorehead had “failed to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action against” her, saying that she is simply spreading the truth and thus not responsible for defamation.

Lee has also been public about wanting Moorehead to face financial and social consequences.

“I want Craven to never work in the porn industry again … I want the entire porn industry to know what he did to me,” she said in an interview with adult film publication AVN.

She also notes that the filing used stage names for both her and Moorehead, saying that failing to properly identify the parties involved in the case disqualifies them.

Moorehead is represented by New York lawyer Robert Hantman and Los Angeles lawyer Sergio Castaneda.

It is uncommon for a defendant to represent themselves in court and is not advised by legal experts, according to Avvo, an online marketplace for legal services.

Lee, 20, was nominated for best new starlet in AVN’s 2020 awards, and Moorehead was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2015 with almost 400 films produced.

Lee was born in Laos. She began her career in 2018 and has at least 30 credits, according to online database IMDB.

The case comes as the adult film industry has been rocked by widespread accusations of sexual misconduct. In August, Los Angeles prosecutors filed charges against longtime adult film actor Ron Jeremy on counts of rape, sexual assault, sodomy involving 12 different women from 2004 to 2020. The charges against Jeremy come after several women in the industry made public allegations of sexual abuse and assault against adult film actor James Deen.

Meanwhile, video platform Pornhub in December was the subject of allegations from New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who claimed the site "monetizes child rapes, revenge pornography, spy cam videos of women showering, racist and misogynist content, and footage of women being asphyxiated in plastic bags."