The Justice Department has reached a substantial $215 million settlement in a civil forfeiture case concerning the notorious online classifieds site Backpage.com, which was widely recognized for hosting prostitution ads and was implicated in illegal sex trafficking, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California. The forfeited assets, which include a mix of cash, cryptocurrency, and a real estate parcel in San Francisco, will undergo a remission process designed to compensate the victims of the crimes linked to Backpage's operations, with further details on the process to be released in the future.
The settlement targets more than 80% of the seized or restrained property in the case of the total representing a substantial portion of the ill-gotten gains that Backpage.com's owners accumulated over the years. "This settlement agreement marks a significant milestone in a criminal case involving the sexual exploitation and trafficking of countless women and children," indicated United States Attorney Martin Estrada in a release, pointing out the financial implications of engaging in such nefarious operations.
Former Backpage executives including CEO Michael Lacey, Scott Spear, and John "Jed" Brunst have faced justice, with Lacey sentenced to five years, Spear getting 10 years, and Brunst also sentenced to a decade in prison for their involvement, as detailed by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California. Noteworthy is that Lacey is currently out on bail pending his appeal yet others have confronted the full consequence of their crimes. The detailed process by which Backpage managed to filter and moderate content to maintain a facade of legitimacy was part of the evidence brought forward during the trial that eventually led to the convictions of its owners and staff and the seizure of over $500 million in revenue from their illegal operations.
The investigation that brought Backpage down was a collaborative effort from the United States Postal Inspection Service, the FBI, and IRS Criminal Investigation, with the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona playing a key role in the prosecution of the criminal cases. Assistant United States Attorney Jonathan S. Galatzan from the Asset Forfeiture and Recovery Section is listed as the prosecutor handling the forfeiture case, which is filed under the case name United States of America v. $1,546,076.35 In Bank Funds Seized from Republic Bank of Arizona Account 1889, et al., CV 18-08420 (C.D. Calif.), as per the U.S. Attorney's Office. For more information, Public Information Officer Ciaran McEvoy can be reached at [email protected] or (213) 894-4465.
