Backpage owners arrested and BP apparently shutting down
Backpage shutting down per wire services Former Phoenix New Times owners have arrest warrants
The Texas Attorney General says, "The site has since been shut down." Dave notes, yet it is till up but probably since based in Netherlands it may be more complicated to get if offline.
Agents raided Dallas headquarters of Backpage and arrested Chief Exec Carl F on 10/6/2016. The Netherlands-based company has its U.S. headquarters in Dallas.
In his press release, the attorney general's office categorized the portal as "...a notorious adult website that generates millions of dollars annually from its classified sex ads."
"We cannot allow this evil to endure,” he expanded in the prepared statement, referencing the site that he says facilitates modern-day slavery of both children and adults and generates millions of dollars from its classified ads.
"Making money off the backs of innocent human beings by allowing them to be exploited for modern-day slavery is not acceptable in Texas," Texas Attorney General Ken P., a Republican, said in a statement.
California Attorney General Kamala H. said that F. was arrested on felony charges of pimping a minor, pimping, and conspiracy to commit pimping. He is being held in lieu of $500,000 bond and will face an extradition hearing before he can be returned to California.
"Raking in millions of dollars from the trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable victims is outrageous, despicable and illegal," said H. Democrat who is running for the U.S. Senate in next month's election. "Backpage and its executives purposefully and unlawfully designed Backpage to be the world's top online brothel."
The site's controlling shareholders, Michael L 68, and James L, 67, have been charged with conspiracy to commit pimping, Neither of them has been taken into custody by late Thursday although warrants have been issued for their arrest. Under California's law, felony pimping is defined as making money off of prostitutes or soliciting customers for prostitution. Lacey and Larkin are former owners of the Village Voice and the Phoenix New Times.
Backpage advertises a wide range of services, but the California arrest warrant alleges that internal business records obtained through a search warrant show that 99 percent its revenue came from its adult services section between January 2013 and March 2015. California officials said the site collects fees from users who use coded language and nearly nude photos to offer sex for money.
Nearly three dozen members of the Texas Attorney General’s Law Enforcement Unit participated in F's arrest and the execution of a search warrant on the Dallas headquarters of Backpage, "...which is considered the largest advertiser of adult escort services in the United States," the AG's office said.
California AG said, "Backpage and its executives purposefully and unlawfully designed Backpage to be the world’s top online brothel. Thank you to the California Department of Justice Special Agents, investigators, attorneys, and our partners in law enforcement who have worked tirelessly to bring the operators of this online brothel to justice and protect thousands of victims of trafficking.”
F, 55, was taken into custody on a California arrest warrant after he arrived in Houston on a flight from Amsterdam.
"A lengthy joint investigation by the offices of the Texas and California attorneys general uncovered evidence that adult and child sex trafficking victims were forced into prostitution through escort ads that appeared repeatedly on Backpage," the statement reads.
The shut down of backpage.com is not in all media reports. It is mentioned in some such as
http://patch.com/california/coronado...mping-charges?
Source: Sample from many reports widely distributed over the wire services on 10/6/2016.
Backpage owners arrested and BP apparently shutting down
