Carl Ferrer , the CEO of classifieds site Backpage.com , has been contain on felony human trafficking charges that include pimp , pander of a pocket-size and conspiracy to commit pimping , agency foretell on Thursday .
“ Backpage.com seems to have knowingly and volitionally allowed women and kid to be exploited in return for its own financial gain , ” said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a press conference on Thursday , according to the Houston Chronicle .
Backpage has long been the mark of legal activity for its “ adult ” section , which allegedly generates 99 percent of the site ’s income , and has operate on without credit board support ( accept only Bitcoin ) since 2015.From Politico :
For more than six months , Ferrer has been locked in a tribunal fight with a subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Securtity and Government Affairs Committee , which subpoenaed extensive records from Backpage and Ferrer . They argue that the subpoena ad testificandum intrude on their First Amendment right as newspaper publisher , but a district court judge rejected that argument .
Ferrer and Backpage fare only slightly better at the D.C. Circuit , where a panel vote , 2 - 1 , to abnegate a stoppage of the subpoena ad testificandum . The Supreme Court effectively lifted the subpoena ad testificandum for a few days , but at last abnegate relief to the web site and its CEO .
In accession to the charge against Ferrer , prosecuting attorney have accuse controlling Backpage shareholders Michael Lacey and James Larkin of felony conspiracy to charge procure . As of closet fourth dimension , it was indecipherable if either suspect was in custody or at large .
[ Reuters ]
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