The FBI seized the online classifieds website Backpage.com as part of an ongoing investigation into sex trafficking.
A posting on the site confirmed the website and its affiliated sites were seized by the FBI, along with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division and the Joint Regional Intelligence Center.
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According to the statement on the site, other agencies taking part in the investigation include the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona, the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central California District and the California and Texas District Attorney’s Offices.
According to The Arizona Republic, authorities charged Michael Lacey, the 69-year-old co-founder of the site, with 93 counts related to the investigation. The indictment remains sealed, according to his lawyer.
Lacey, who lives in Sedona, Arizona, is also a co-founder of the Phoenix New Times. He was previously arrested in October 2016 with former New Times publisher Jim Larkin on California charges of profiting from prostitution through Backpage. Lacey, Larkin and Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer also faced charges of conspiring to engage in pimping, but a judge tossed that charge.
As Reuters notes, politicians and advocates hailed the shut-down as a win in the fight to stop child sex trafficking through social networks.
“Today, Backpage was shutdown. It’s a huge step. Now no child will be sold for sex through this website,” Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) said.
Heidkamp pushed for the passage of Senate legislation inspired by online sex trafficking, which makes it easier for victims of sex trafficking and state prosecutors to sue social media networks, advertisers and others if they do not remove ads for sex trafficking and exploitation. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the legislation, which is an amendment to the Communications Decency Act, next week.
As for Lacey and Larkin, they built a fortune when they began adding alternative weekly magazines in cities across the country. In 2005, they bought Village Voice Media in New York City, then sold off their newspapers in 2012. However, they kept majority interests in Backpage, which they started as an alternative to Craigslist. According to The Republic, a Senate subcommittee said Backpage carried personal ads that helped prostitution and child sex trafficking.
In 2010, Backpage experienced a traffic boom after Craigslist shut down its erotic section. Backpage saw it as an opportunity to pounce, according to internal emails. It was not until January 2017 that Backpage’s erotic section closed, on the same day Lacey and Larkin testified before the Senate subcommittee.
Backpage was reportedly worth more than $600 million in February 2015.
Photo credit: Backpage.com
