Feds: Backpage made $500M on prostitution

PHOENIX — The shuttered online advertising site Backpage.com generated more than $500 million in prostitution-related revenues since its inception in 2004, according to a federal indictment.

Charges against Backpage. com founders Michael Lacey and James Larkin in the indictment unsealed Monday include facilitating prostitution and money laundering. Their attorneys did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Prosecutors contend some of the advertisements depicted children who authorities said were sex trafficking victims.

Five other company officials were also named in the indictment, which charged that Lacey, Larkin and the others knowingly facilitated prostitution by running ads for sexual services and used foreign banks to hide revenues.

“I am the type of girl who absolutely adores a man who understands the many desires of a young beautiful woman and how to accommodate a variety of fantasies,” read one ad cited by prosecutors.

Backpage.com employees sought to help customers edit their ads to stay within legal limits while still encouraging commercial sex, prosecutors said. Photos and words that were indicative of prostitution were removed before such ads were run, according to the indictment.

“Nevertheless, the Backpage defendants made a financial decision to continue displaying those ads,” the indictment said, noting the site has brought $500 million in prostitution-related revenues.

Federal authorities last week seized Backpage.com and its affiliated websites.