Backpage.com Hit With New Pimping, Money-laundering Charges in California

California Attorney General Kamala Harris on Friday filed new criminal prosecutions for pimping and money laundering against the CEO and majority shareholder of Backpage.com, which has revived a case that was rejected by a judge earlier this month .

New Charges Against Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer and Majority Holders Michael Lacey and James Larkin include 26 counts of money laundering and 13 counts of pimping and conspiracy charges to commit sex trafficking.

While the prosecution charges appear similar to those filed by Harris against the trio in October and later rejected the money laundering allegations are new.

Backpage, the second-largest online advertising services in the United States after Craigslist was the subject of a thorough review of the United States Senate and allegations of civil prosecution that the site facilitates sex trafficking, especially in the United States. children.

However, efforts to process the company have been blocked by a federal law that protects website operators from liability for content posted by third parties.

Friday's complaint alleges that the defendants have created several corporate entities for money laundering and circumvent the refusal of financial institutions to process Backpage transactions because of overtly sexual material, the attorney general's office said in a press release.

It also alleges that the defendants have created other sites to increase revenues related to the prostitution of the company and developed the content of these sites, using photographs or information of victims without knowing it.

Backpage representatives could not be contacted immediately.

The latest action, like other procedures involving Backpage.com, will be closely followed by the technology industry. The federal shield of liability for content is considered essential for companies ranging from the Google and Facebook to eBay and Airbnb, but has been criticized by some lawmakers and judges.

A civil suit against Backpage was filed in 2012 in Washington state by three teenagers who were allegedly repeatedly raped after it was announced on the site. The girls, the oldest was 15, followed Backpage for claims including the sexual exploitation of children, claiming that their allocation rules were intended to teach how pimps publish traffic messages that are beyond the application of the law.

Backpage argued that it has no rules to prevent illegal positions, and some advocates of freedom of expression have submitted writs in support of their position. The Supreme Court of Washington State did not agree, in power last year that the trial could go ahead.

Earlier this year, however, a case of similar agreements involving children against Backpage Massachusetts was rejected by a federal appeals court, which states that the principles of freedom of expression enshrined in the Decency Communications Act Were primordial.

Harris, a Democrat, was recently elected to the United States Senate and will take office in January.