A second Minnesota man has now accused the porn copyright trolling firm Prenda Law of using his identity without his knowledge or permission. The revelation comes in a Sunday article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Allan Mooney has been listed in business filings as the manager of MCGIP LLC, a porn trolling shell company with ties to Prenda's John Steele and Paul Hansmeier, but Mooney now says he had nothing to do with the firm.

Mooney's denial comes at an awkward time. Hansmeier, Steele, and other key figures in the Prenda controversy have been ordered to report to a Los Angeles courtroom this afternoon to answer allegations that they stole the identity of a different Minnesota man, Alan Cooper. Morgan Pietz, the defense attorney who has emerged as Prenda's leading foe, notified Judge Wright of the Star Tribune article in a Sunday court filing.

Mooney told the paper that he had "introduced his friend Paul Hansmeier to some contacts in the porn industry." But he said he didn't know he was listed as the "sole organizer" of MCGIP, a firm that has sued numerous John Doe defendants for pornographic copyright infringement. He also said he didn't know anything about Guava LLC, a trolling firm that listed "Alan Moay" - presumably a garbling of Mooney's name - as its representative.

"That would be news to me," Mooney told the Star Tribune. "I'm not involved in any of that type of stuff."

Ars Technica first reported on MCGIP in April 2011. At that time, it was represented by John Steele. A 2010 filing with the Minnesota Secretary of State listed an Allan Mooney as the manager of MCGIP. The filing indicated that MCGIP was located in Suite 900 in Minneapolis's IDS tower, the same address as Hansmeier's Alpha Law Firm.

In a deposition conducted last month, Pietz asked Hansmeier about Mooney, MCGIP, and Guava. Hansmeier was characteristically evasive, finally admitting that he knew a man named Allan Mooney but claiming to know little about MCGIP - despite his "belief" that he actually organized the company (he would have to "check his records" to be sure). Hansmeier also went to great lengths to avoid saying whether "Allan Moay" might be a misspelling of Mooney's name.

Pressed by the Star Tribune, Hansmeier offered more detail. He "sent the Star Tribune notarized affidavits in which Mooney declares that he's 'a principal officer' of Guava and that his 'standard practice' is to decline comment about the company if strangers call." The Star Tribune was not able to contact Mooney to verify Hansmeier's claim.