Seven people associated with the sex ad website Backpage.com,
including its founders Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, are facing
charges of knowingly facilitating prostitution as part of a
93-count indictment that was unsealed on Monday.
The indictment, which also includes money laundering charges,
was made public after Backpage.com and its affiliated websites were
seized on Friday by U.S. federal law enforcement authorities and
taken off the internet.
Lawmakers and law enforcement officials have long been working
to crack down on the website, which was used primarily to sell sex
and was the second largest classified ad service in the United
States after Craigslist.
Backpage and some advocacy groups have argued that the ads on
the site were free speech protected by the U.S. Constitution.
The unsealed indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in
Arizona, lays out details concerning 17 alleged victims, including
both adults and minors as young as 14 years old, who were
trafficked on the site.
In one case, a customer murdered one of the victims and
attempted to burn her corpse, an official from the U.S. Attorney’s
Office in Arizona said. Later, when the victim’s father tried to
have his daughter’s pictures and ads taken down, the website did
not immediately comply, according to the official.
In the indictment, the U.S. Justice Department accuses Backpage
of earning $500 million in prostitution-related revenue since its
inception in 2004, and of money laundering that entailed routing
funds through seemingly unrelated entities, wiring money in and out
of foreign accounts and converting it into and out of bitcoin and
other cryptocurrencies.
Backpage associates were also actively involved in editing ads
and advising on how they should be worded, according to the
indictment.
The indictment relies on the same law used in a similar case in
California several years ago against the founder of MyRedbook.com,
who pleaded guilty to charges that the website hosted ads largely
posted by prostitutes.
A Justice Department official said the case against Backpage
does not rely on sex trafficking charges, but rather on charges
connected to prostitution, which are easier to prosecute.
To prove sex trafficking, prosecutors would need to show each
individual ad either involved a minor, or featured an adult who was
selling sex through force or coercion.
Last month, Congress passed legislation that makes it easier for
state prosecutors and sex-trafficking victims to sue website
operators that facilitate online sex trafficking.
The bill, which President Donald Trump is expected to sign into
law this week, amends the Communications Decency Act, which largely
shielded website operators from state criminal charges or civil
liability if they were facilitating sex ads or prostitution.
Efforts to get that law changed were featured prominently in a
Netflix documentary called “I am Jane Doe.”
reuters
Seven people associated with the sex ad website Backpage.com,
including its founders Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, are facing
charges of knowingly facilitating prostitution as part of a
93-count indictment that was unsealed on Monday.
The indictment, which also includes money laundering charges,
was made public after Backpage.com and its affiliated websites were
seized on Friday by U.S. federal law enforcement authorities and
taken off the internet.
Lawmakers and law enforcement officials have long been working
to crack down on the website, which was used primarily to sell sex
and was the second largest classified ad service in the United
States after Craigslist.
Backpage and some advocacy groups have argued that the ads on
the site were free speech protected by the U.S. Constitution.
The unsealed indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in
Arizona, lays out details concerning 17 alleged victims, including
both adults and minors as young as 14 years old, who were
trafficked on the site.
In one case, a customer murdered one of the victims and
attempted to burn her corpse, an official from the U.S. Attorney’s
Office in Arizona said. Later, when the victim’s father tried to
have his daughter’s pictures and ads taken down, the website did
not immediately comply, according to the official.
In the indictment, the U.S. Justice Department accuses Backpage
of earning $500 million in prostitution-related revenue since its
inception in 2004, and of money laundering that entailed routing
funds through seemingly unrelated entities, wiring money in and out
of foreign accounts and converting it into and out of bitcoin and
other cryptocurrencies.
Backpage associates were also actively involved in editing ads
and advising on how they should be worded, according to the
indictment.
The indictment relies on the same law used in a similar case in
California several years ago against the founder of MyRedbook.com,
who pleaded guilty to charges that the website hosted ads largely
posted by prostitutes.
A Justice Department official said the case against Backpage
does not rely on sex trafficking charges, but rather on charges
connected to prostitution, which are easier to prosecute.
To prove sex trafficking, prosecutors would need to show each
individual ad either involved a minor, or featured an adult who was
selling sex through force or coercion.
Last month, Congress passed legislation that makes it easier for
state prosecutors and sex-trafficking victims to sue website
operators that facilitate online sex trafficking.
The bill, which President Donald Trump is expected to sign into
law this week, amends the Communications Decency Act, which largely
shielded website operators from state criminal charges or civil
liability if they were facilitating sex ads or prostitution.
Efforts to get that law changed were featured prominently in a
Netflix documentary called “I am Jane Doe.”
reuters
Read more https://nairalaw.com/backpage-com-founders-five-others-indicted-on-prostitution-related-charges/