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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 10 april 2018

Indictment accuses Backpage

founders of aiding prostitution

By JACQUES BILLEAUD list a lawyer for Larkin. but don’t want to go to lo-
Associated Press Executive vice president cations where they would
PHOENIX (AP) — Two found- Scott Spear was charged risk arrest.
ers of Backpage.com and with facilitating prostitution Last year, the website’s
five others who work for and money laundering, chief executive Carl Ferrer,
the classified advertising while chief financial officer along with Lacey and Lar-
site have been indicted on John Brunst was charged kin, pleaded not guilty to
federal charges in what au- with money laundering. money laundering charges
thorities say was a scheme Sales and marketing direc- in California, where state
to knowingly facilitate pros- tor Dan Hyer, operations prosecutors said the web- This undated file booking photo provided by the Sacramento
titution by running ads for manager Andrew Padilla site operators had illegally County Sheriff’s Office shows James Larkin, left, and in this un-
sexual services and using and assistant operations funneled money through dated file booking photo provided by the Sacramento County
foreign banks to hide rev- manager Joye Vaught multiple companies and Sheriff’s Office shows Michael Lacey.
enues. also were charged with fa- created various websites Associated Press
A 93-count indictment un- cilitating prostitution. The to get around banks that In the past, the site’s op- Voice and the Phoenix
sealed Monday alleges indictment alleged that refused to process transac- erators challenged the New Times. The indictment
that Backpage.com on Padilla threatened to fire tions. California charges on First says Lacey and Larkin pur-
some occasions helped any employee who ac- The California state attor- Amendment grounds. portedly sold their interest
customers edit their ads so knowledged in writing that ney general’s office also Officials have struggled in Backpage.com in 2015,
they would stay within legal the escorts depicted in ads had moved to file pimp- with how to deal with the though they have retained
limits while still encouraging were actually prostitutes. ing conspiracy and other website without violating control over the site.
commercial sex. Federal There were no lawyers listed charges against the Back- free speech protections. Lacey and Larkin were ar-
law enforcement authori- in court records for Spear, page.com operators. Backpage.com is a Dutch- rested in Arizona by then-
ties also have seized Back- Brunst, Hyer and Padilla. However, a judge dis- owned limited liability cor- Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office in
page.com and its affiliated Stephen Weiss, attorney for missed them, saying they poration incorporated in 2007 for publishing informa-
websites. Vaught, didn’t immediately relate to the publishing of Delaware, but its principal tion about a secret grand
The company is accused return a call Monday seek- sex-related advertisements place of business is in Dal- jury subpoena demanding
of laundering money by ing comment. and could not be filed be- las. Federal officials say information on its stories
wiring ad proceeds into for- The seven people charged cause of a federal law pro- Backpage.com keeps its and online readers.
eign bank accounts. in the federal indictment tecting free speech that bank accounts and servers They won a $3.75 million set-
Website founders Michael are accused of trying to grants immunity to websites in Arizona. tlement from county gov-
Lacey and James Larkin sanitize ads by removing that post content created Lacey and Larkin are for- ernment as a result of their
are charged with facilitat- photos and words that by others. mer owners of the Village now-discredited arrests.q
ing prostitution and money were indicative of prostitu-
laundering. tion and then publishing a
The indictment said many revised version of the no-
ads published on Back- tices.
page.com depicted chil- Backpage.com lets users
dren who were sex traffick- create posts to sell items,
ing victims. While the site seek a roommate, par-
maintains it diligently tries ticipate in forums, list up-
to prevent prostitution ads, coming events or post job
it still allows them and has openings. It also has had
declined to take steps to listings for adult escorts and
confront the problem, the other sexual services, and
indictment said. authorities say advertising
Larry Kazan, an attorney related to those services
representing Lacey, didn’t has been extremely lucra-
return a phone call seek- tive. Authorities say online
ing comment on the indict- sex ads appeal to people
ment. Court records didn’t who want to pay for sex