Backpage.com

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Backpage.com Founder Is Headed to Prison

Michael Lacey sentenced to 5 years, $3M fine on a money laundering charge

(Newser) - Michael Lacey, a founder of the lucrative classified site Backpage.com, was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison and fined $3 million for a single money laundering count in a sprawling fraud case that alleged he profited from prostitution. A jury convicted Lacey, 76, of international concealment money laundering...

Backpage Prostitution Case Brings Mixed Verdicts

Founder Michael Lacey is convicted of a single financial count

(Newser) - A jury was unable to reach a verdict on 84 counts against Michael Lacey, the founder of Backpage.com—a site prosecutors say was set up to profit from prostitution —but nevertheless convicted him of a money-laundering charge. Two former executives were found guilty of using the site to...

Backpage CEO Wraps Up '3-State Guilty Plea Tour'

Carl Ferrer will testify against co-founders, face max of 5 years in Arizona

(Newser) - A laundry list of high-level staffers at Backpage.com are facing money laundering and facilitating prostitution charges , with one top executive now agreeing to testify against the rest of them. Per the AP , CEO Carl Ferrer has struck a plea deal in which he'll admit guilt to state and...

Backpage Shuts Adult Section After Damning Report

Site is 'far more complicit in online sex trafficking' than previously known: report

(Newser) - The founders and CEO of Backpage.com may have beat pimping charges , but their classified site hasn't escaped unscathed from claims that it benefited from prostitution and human trafficking. The site shuttered its adult section on Monday, claiming government censorship and "an assault on the First Amendment,"...

Backpage CEO, Owners Beat Pimping Charges

Judge says they're protected by same law that protects Facebook, YouTube

(Newser) - The CEO and former owners of Backpage.com will get off on an assortment of pimping charges thanks to the same law that protects Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and more, the Mercury News reports. According to Ars Technica , the trio were accused of profiting off "escort" ads selling sex with...

Backpage Wasn't Always a Haven for Sex Ads
Backpage Wasn't Always 
a Haven for Sex Ads
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Dec 6, 2016 12:50 PM CST

Backpage Wasn't Always a Haven for Sex Ads

But it is now, and a legal case raises free-speech implications

(Newser) - Backpage.com has a reputation of being the seedy home for online sex ads, and one stat puts a point on it: Of the $50 million in revenue it earned in California from January 2013 to March 2015, 99% of it came from adult ads, notes the Ringer . "It...

Boss of 'Top Online Brothel' Charged With Pimping

Backpage.com CEO arrested in Texas

(Newser) - The CEO of Backpage.com isn't just a pimp, authorities in California and Texas say, he's the pimp of "the world's top online brothel"—and underage victims of sex trafficking have made him a lot of money. Carl Ferrer was arrested in Houston Thursday on...

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