{"id":1998863,"date":"2023-08-12T14:34:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-12T18:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-federal-trial-against-backpage-executives-rescheduled-after-co-founder-commits-suicide\/"},"modified":"2023-08-12T14:40:48","modified_gmt":"2023-08-12T18:40:48","slug":"in-depth-federal-trial-against-backpage-executives-rescheduled-after-co-founder-commits-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-federal-trial-against-backpage-executives-rescheduled-after-co-founder-commits-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal trial against Backpage executives rescheduled due to co-founder&#8217;s suicide."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fin-depth-federal-trial-against-backpage-executives-rescheduled-after-co-founder-commits-suicide%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1998863&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Backpage Trial Rescheduled \u200cAfter\u2062 Co-Founder&#8217;s Suicide<\/h2>\n<p>After the co-founder of Backpage\u200b committed suicide at the \u2063end of July, a federal judge rescheduled a\u200d trial\u200d in which executives of the online classified ads site were charged\u2063 with allegations of facilitating prostitution and money laundering.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Diane Humetewa\u2014appointed by\u200b former President Barack \u200cObama\u2014continued \u200cthe trial date that\u2063 was\u200b initially set for Aug. \u20624 to Aug. 29, a Department \u2063of Justice spokesperson told The\u2062 Epoch Times and dismissed the indictment\u200c against the now deceased James \u200cLarkin.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Larkin\u200c was \u200breported to\u200d have died from a self<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/8-injured-1-suspect-in-custody-following-shooting-at-philadelphia-transportation-station\/\" title=\"8 injured, 1 suspect in custody following shooting at Philadelphia transportation station\">-inflicted gunshot wound<\/a> at 74 on July \u206231 \u2064in Superior, Arizona.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Related Stories<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/florida-man-imprisoned-for-trafficking-girl-14-via-backpage-com-2901223\">Florida Man Imprisoned for Trafficking Girl, 14, via Backpage.com<\/a> (4\/30\/2019)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/wisconsin-man-convicted-of-sex-trafficking-on-backpage-2882287\">Wisconsin\u2063 Man Convicted of Sex \u200dTrafficking on Backpage<\/a> (4\/16\/2019)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/article\/online-sex-trafficking-demand-drops-after-backpage-takedown-trump-admin-policies-report-2875865\">Online Sex-Trafficking Demand Drops After Backpage \u2062Takedown, Trump Admin Policies: Report<\/a> (4\/11\/2019)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/opinion\/the-womens-march-and-backpage-com-a-sordid-story-2493001\">The Women&#8217;s March\u200d and Backpage.com: A Sordid Story<\/a> (4\/13\/2018)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/article\/lawyer-backpage-com-ceo-will-fight-sex-trafficking-charges-2168979\">Lawyer: Backpage.com CEO Will Fight Sex Trafficking Charges<\/a> (10\/8\/2016)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Superior\u2063 Police Department said no foul play\u2064 was \u200bsuspected.<\/p>\n<p>While its founders have contended that adult advertisement is free speech and that Backpage contributed to \u2064harm reduction\u2062 in \u200cthe sex trafficking industry, prosecutors alleged that surrounding\u2063 the solicitation for escort\u200c services was a fog of unethical and illegal activity within which prostitution and underage sex trafficking were able to flourish without detection.<\/p>\n<p>According to the\u200b indictment (<a href=\"https:\/\/acrobat.adobe.com\/link\/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:cf82efc2-bb3d-4c4a-ad88-dca3253b1049\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>) filed in March 2018, \u200bMr. Larkin, \u2064Michael Lacey,\u2063 and other \u200demployees were operating \u201cthe internet\u2019s leading\u2063 source of prostitution advertisements\u201d and, by\u2063 2018, had \u200cearned \u201cover \u2063$500 \u2064million in prostitution-related revenue since \u200cits inception.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A mistrial was declared \u200din a September 2021 case \u200cafter it\u200c was ruled\u2064 that\u200b prosecutors brought in the allegation\u200c of sex trafficking, though Larkin and the\u2062 other \u200ddefendants hadn\u2019t been charged with \u200dthe crime.<\/p>\n<p>Though Mr. Larkin\u2063 and Mr. \u2063Lacey sold \u200dBackpage in\u2063 2015, the indictment \u200balleges they\u200b \u201cretained significant control\u201d and continued to \u201creap millions in related distributions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The indictment also alleges that\u200d the defendants were aware the website had become\u200c a platform \u200cfor sex workers to \u2062advertise, that there\u2063 were ads published \u2063\u201cdepicting\u200d children who were victims of sex\u2064 trafficking,\u201d and that\u2063 it contributed\u2064 to the propagation of ads featuring the prostitution of children.<\/p>\n<p>Though Backpage \u200cclaimed it alerted the National \u200dCenter for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) when \u2064it became aware that a child was\u200b being advertised\u200d for sex, the indictment alleges the defendants\u2062 \u201cimplemented policies to limit such referrals,\u201d such as instructing moderators to not send\u200c emergency alerts to the NCMEC in response to complaints filed by grandparents and other \u2063<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/massachusetts-history-class-forced-students-to-comment-on-how-systemic-racism-impacted-george-floyd\/\" title=\"Massachusetts History Class Forced Students To Comment On How \u2018Systemic Racism\u2019 Impacted George Floyd\">extended family members<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Because \u201cvirtually every dollar\u201d of Backpage\u2019s proceeds came \u200cfrom\u2062 illegal activity, the indictment alleges, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-federal-trial-against-backpage-executives-rescheduled-after-co-founder-commits-suicide\/\" title=\"Federal trial against Backpage executives rescheduled due to co-founder's suicide.\">major \u2063credit card companies stopped processing payments<\/a>, with some\u2063 banks \u200dclosing\u200c their \u200baccount with \u2062the \u2064website in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>To \u200ccircumnavigate this, the defendants engaged in \u201can array\u2062 of money laundering strategies\u201d and other financial transactions orchestrated \u2064to hide illegal \u200bactivity, the indictment alleges.<\/p>\n<h2>Phoenix New Times<\/h2>\n<p>Both Mr. Larkin and\u200c Mr. Lacey got their\u200d start\u2063 as\u200b media entrepreneurs, co-founding \u200dthe Phoenix \u200bNew Times in 1970 as \u200dan anti-war newspaper published at Arizona State\u2063 University (ASU).<\/p>\n<p>According to New Times, as the \u200bnewspaper grew, it acquired other alternative newspapers that they \u2063operated under an\u2063 entity they formed called Village Voice Media Holdings.<\/p>\n<p>New\u200c Times, \u200cwhich published commercial and adult advertising, had a history of exposing political\u200d corruption, \u200dtargeting establishment \u200cpoliticians like now-deceased Republican Arizona Sen. John\u200b McCain \u2063and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe\u200b Arpaio.<\/p>\n<p>Even then, \u2063the publishers allowed for adult\u200d advertisement \u2063in their paper, which Mr. Larkin had been quoted as saying, \u201cLike it or not, it\u2019s in our DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Once\u200c Backpage\u2062 was launched, it\u200b entered \u200cinto a \u2063rocky \u2063relationship with the\u2064 federal government.<\/p>\n<p>Vice President\u2064 Kamala Harris, \u200cthen\u2063 California attorney general \u200djust\u200c before she became a U.S. \u2063Senator, led a\u200b failed prosecution against Mr. Larkin and Mr. Lacey, charging them\u2063 with \u2064conspiracy to pimp based on\u2063 the \u2062ads found in Backpage; however, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/poll-california-voters-almost-evenly-split-on-recall-of-dem-gov-newsom-larry-elder-leading-republicans\/\" title=\"POLL: California Voters Almost Evenly Split On Recall Of Dem Gov. Newsom, Larry Elder Leading Republicans\">superior court judge ruled<\/a> that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) shield them from prosecution for third-party content.<\/p>\n<p>In\u2062 2013, 49 \u2063attorney \u200bgenerals\u2014including Vice President Harris\u2014petitioned \u2064(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.phoenixnewtimes.com\/news\/kamala-harris-epic-fail-california-judge-dismisses-backpage-pimping-case-8892833\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>) to have Congress amend the CDA to create an \u2064avenue by which \u2063they could criminally prosecute Backpage.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Larkin\u2063 called the legal maneuvers against\u2063 him political\u200c and an attack on free speech, telling Reason magazine in\u200c 2018, after another arrest and raid that left him confined to the \u2062house with \u2063an ankle \u2064monitor, that \u201cit\u2019s a constant slap in the face.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One New\u2064 Times\u200c editorial pointed to how Judge Humetewa was a political ally of Sen. McCain, suggesting\u2064 a political hit job because of \u200dmultiple articles the newspaper published criticizing the senator.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe weren\u2019t trying to curry favor,\u201d \u200dhe told Reason, adding that they never worried what politicians thought of them, which had \u2062\u201ccome back\u2063 to haunt us.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;Aggressive Public Campaign&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>Backpage initially had a collaborative \u200brelationship with law enforcement to catch\u2064 sex traffickers,\u2064 contradicting the allegations in the complaint, but\u200b that later changed, according\u200b to Reason.<\/p>\n<p>Under former President George W. Bush,\u200b there had grown \u2062an \u200d\u201caggressive\u200d public\u200b campaign\u201d against what\u200d politicians \u201cdescribed as unprecedented levels of \u2018human trafficking.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the Reason article,\u2064 it \u200bis implied that the degree to\u200d which sex trafficking was taking\u200c place\u200b was largely exaggerated.<\/p>\n<p>The author \u200dpointed to Congresswomen Ann Wagner\u2019s (R-Missouri) <a href=\"https:\/\/wagner.house.gov\/media-center\/press-releases\/wagner-statement-passage-save-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SAVE Act<\/a> of 2014,\u2064 which criminalized advertising sex workers who are the \u200dvictims of sex trafficking.<\/p>\n<p>After passed, the law\u200c was used to \u200dgo \u200cafter Backpage, which it challenged \u200cuntil it was dismissed\u2063 by a \u2063judge who ruled Backpage\u200b wasn\u2019t \u201can appropriate subject of a SAVE Act prosecution,\u201d according to Reason.<\/p>\n<p>Ten years later, on Aug. 9, Rep. Wagner again introduced legislation \u2063titled the <a href=\"https:\/\/wagner.house.gov\/media-center\/press-releases\/wagner-introduces-bipartisan-legislation-protect-victims-child-sexual\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Child Online Safety Modernization\u2063 Act<\/a> that\u200c would enhance online platforms\u2019 requirements for \u200creporting child\u2064 sexual abuse materials.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn 2022, the National \u2063Center for Missing\u200b and Exploited Children received more\u200b than 32 million reports of online \u2062child sexual abuse \u200dmaterial,\u2063 sometimes called \u2018child pornography,\u2019\u201d Rep. Wagner\u200b stated. \u201cThat\u2019s\u2062 equal\u2064 to approximately 87,600 reports per day of images and videos of \u2062children \u200cbeing sexually exploited. My \u2064legislation, the\u2063 Child Online \u200bSafety\u200b Modernization Act,\u200d will advance common-sense, bipartisan, and bicameral solutions to help law enforcement investigate these cases, rescue vulnerable \u2062children,\u200b and apprehend online predators.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Diverging\u2064 Narratives and Progressive Ideologies<\/h2>\n<p>Given the diverging media responses to \u2064the film \u201cSound of \u200cFreedom,\u201d there continues the opinion of \u200bmore left-leaning, \u2064<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-nevada-a-corrupt-cash-for-votes-scheme-is-hiding-in-plain-sight\/\" title=\"In Nevada, A Corrupt Cash-For-Votes Scheme Is Hiding In Plain Sight\">mainstream media outlets<\/a> that child and sex trafficking aren\u2019t happening\u200c at \u200dthe magnitude as portrayed in the film and by those advocating \u2063for its abolition.<\/p>\n<p>Most recently, \u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/united-states\/2023\/08\/10\/sound-of-freedom-how-to-make-a-fortune-with-a-mediocre-movie\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Economist<\/a> called \u200c\u201cSound of Freedom\u201d \u201ca mediocre movie\u201d that did\u2062 well because \u200bit cashed \u200cin on the \u201cculture war\u201d between conservatives and progressives.<\/p>\n<p>As newspaper tycoons,\u200b Mr. Larkin and Mr. Lacey supported progressive ideologies such as pro-choice and opposed strict\u200c immigration\u2062 policies that Sheriff Arpaio\u2014a supporter of \u2062former President Donald Trump\u2014enacted when he was sheriff\u2064 from 1993 to 2017.<\/p>\n<p>In \u200c2007, Sheriff Arpaio \u200chad Mr. Larkin\u200d and Mr. Lacey arrested\u200b after the publication of an article on a grand jury investigation into Sheriff Arpaio, who had accumulated multiple civil rights lawsuits for his strict \u2063policies on immigration involving \u200dimmigrant \u2062\u201croundups.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Larkin and Mr. \u200bLacey later\u200c sued Maricopa County\u200d Sheriff\u2019s Office for the arrest and settled in 2013 \u200cfor $3.75 million, which\u200c the publishers used to establish an \u201cendowed chair\u201d professorship\u200c at the Walter \u2063Cronkite School of\u200d Journalism and Mass Communication,\u2064 according to The News \u2064Version, and\u00a0set\u200d up the Lacey &#038;\u200d Larkin\u200d Frontera Fund to advocate\u2063 for freedom of speech topics in the state, as well as migration rights.<\/p>\n<h2>Harm Reduction,\u2062 or Harmful?<\/h2>\n<p>Backpage, launched in 2004\u2063 to meet \u200cthe demands of the wider-reaching internet audience, continued the tradition of\u2064 allowing for adult advertisement that its publishers \u200ddefended not only on\u2062 the grounds of free speech but also on harm reduction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBackpage is a part of the solution,\u201d \u200cthe \u2064indictment quotes Mr. Lacey as \u2062saying. \u201cEliminating adult advertising will in \u2064no way eliminate\u200d or even reduce the incidence of prostitution in this country. . . . For the very first time, the oldest profession in the world has transparency, record keeping, and\u200d safeguards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors and critics\u200c of the site, however, argue that\u2064 it went too \u2062far.<\/p>\n<p>The emails between Mr. Larkin and Mr. Lacey and the advertisers included in the indictment \u2064raise \u2063questions\u200c as\u200c to\u200b the\u200b ages of women\u2063 in some of\u2062 the\u2064 photos found\u200b on Backpage\u200d that the indictment argues the publishers mostly avoided.<\/p>\n<p>In 2012 a woman sent three emails \u2062requesting that photos \u2062of her underage daughter\u2014whom \u200dshe said had \u2063been kidnapped and drugged\u2014be removed from\u2063 Backpage.<\/p>\n<p>After the \u200dthird email, which stated that the girl was in protective custody, the ad was taken down.<\/p>\n<p>In 2012, ASU\u2014the home of New Times\u2014published a <a href=\"https:\/\/news.asu.edu\/content\/study-finds-extensive-prostitution-ads-backpagecom\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">study<\/a> stating that up to 80\u200d percent\u200d of 2,000 adult\u200d entertainment \u2063ads\u2062 posted between May 12 and \u2063May 20 of 2012 on the adult-services section\u200c of Backpage\u200d were for\u200d sex workers.<\/p>\n<h2>Backpage Aftermath<\/h2>\n<p>Backpage was ultimately seized by\u2063 the federal government in April 2018.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor far too\u200c long, Backpage.com existed as the dominant marketplace \u2064for illicit commercial\u2064 sex, a place where sex traffickers frequently advertised children \u200dand adults alike,\u201d said then-Attorney \u2064General \u2064Jeff\u200b Sessions in\u2063 a 2018 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After the suicide of Backpage&#8217;s co-founder, a federal judge, Diane Humetewa, appointed by Barack Obama, rescheduled the trial for executives accused of facilitating prostitution and money laundering. The trial date, originally set for Aug. 4, was continued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":1998864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1998863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1998863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1998863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1998863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1998864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1998863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1998863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1998863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}