EXHIBIT 4B

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U.S. Department of Justice

United States Attorney

District of Arizona

Via E-Mail

Whitney Z. Bernstein

Bienart, Miller & Katzman PLC 

EMail:wbernstein@bmkattorneys.com

(attorney for Defendant James Larkin)

Re: Your letter of February 26, 2019

Dear Ms. Bernstein:

We write in response to your February 26, 2019 letter summarizing our February 

20, 2019 phone call regarding Backpage server data. Your letter contains a number of 

inaccuracies. However, instead of addressing each inaccuracy contained within the letter, 

we believe it would be most fruitful to provide you with the below written summary of the 

government’s handling of the Backpage server data to date. 

Total Servers

The government has 46 Backpage servers in its possession obtained from 

Amsterdam, Netherlands (“Amsterdam”), Tucson, Arizona (“Tucson”), and Dallas, Texas 

(“Dallas”). We are currently awaiting receipt of approximately 60 additional servers from 

Amsterdam through the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (“MLAT”) process.

Amsterdam Servers 

We currently have in our possession nine servers obtained from Amsterdam through 

the MLAT process. Of these nine servers, three are slave database servers, three are image 

servers, two are master database servers, and one is a backup server. Backpage operated 

Two Renaissance Square Main: (602) 514-7500

40 N. Central Ave., Suite 1800 Main Fax: (602) 514-7693

Phoenix, AZ 85004-4408

March 7, 2019

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as a classified advertising website for approximately 14 years so we’re certain you are 

aware of the content hosted on the site. However, we extracted all of the Backpage 

marketplace database files (i.e. all of the ads that were on Backpage.com) from these 

servers and have imaged the server containing all of the Backpage images in order to help 

facilitate any review you would like to conduct of this data. As I indicated in my March 4, 

2019 email to you, the hard drives containing this data are available for pick-up at an FBI 

facility in Phoenix. Additionally, in accordance with Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure

16(a)(1)(E), these nine servers are available for your inspection at an FBI data center 

facility in Pocatello, Idaho. Our forensic examiners located at this facility are available to 

facilitate your review of these servers and answer any technical questions you may have 

regarding this particular data.

In addition to the aforementioned nine servers currently in the government’s 

possession, we are awaiting receipt of approximately 60 servers from Dutch officials 

through the MLAT process. We have been advised by a former Backpage employee who 

managed these servers that these 60 servers contain payment processing data and data 

redundancy from the nine Amsterdam servers currently in the government’s possession. 

These servers will also be available for your inspection at an FBI data center facility in 

Pocatello, Idaho when we receive them.

Dallas Servers

We currently have in our possession five Backpage servers seized from Dallas. Of 

these five servers, we were advised by a former Backpage employee who managed these 

servers that two of these servers contain Backpage-related email data. These two servers 

have been imaged and the hard drives containing this data are available for pick-up at an 

FBI facility in Phoenix. The former Backpage employee who managed these servers also 

advised us that the remaining three Dallas servers in our possession contain antivirus 

servers, asset tracking/inventory software, a backup server, web user interface, virtual 

private network for end point, VM servers, and WSUS. In accordance with Federal Rule 

of Criminal Procedure 16(a)(1)(E), these three servers are available for your inspection at 

an FBI data center facility in Pocatello, Idaho. Our forensic examiners located at this 

facility are available to facilitate your review of these servers and answer any technical 

questions you may have regarding this particular data.

Tucson Servers

We currently have in our possession 32 servers and three hard drives seized from 

Tucson. We were advised by a former Backpage employee who managed these servers 

that they contain data redundancy of the marketplace database files and images from the 

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Amsterdam servers. We have imaged the master marketplace database and image servers. 

The hard drives containing this data are available for pick-up at an FBI facility in Phoenix. 

In accordance with Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16(a)(1)(E), these 32 servers are 

available for your inspection at an FBI data center facility in Pocatello, Idaho. Our forensic 

examiners located at this facility are available to facilitate your review of these servers and 

answer any technical questions you may have regarding this particular data.

Sampling of Ad data and Ad data the Government Might Utilize at Trial

During our February 20, 2019 phone conversation (and again in your February 26, 

2019 letter), you requested samples of “[Backpage] advertisements as such ads now appear 

in the data the government has imaged.” You also requested “discrete parts of all 

advertisements that are the subject of counts in the Superseding Indictment.” To be clear, 

the government has previously produced to you in discovery ads that are referenced in

counts in the Superseding Indictment. However, we are willing to produce samples of 

Backpage ads as the ads appear in the server data the government has imaged, to include 

ads referenced in counts in the Superseding Indictment. Although we had hoped to have 

this sampling to you this week, our forensic examiner culling this data was unexpectedly 

away from the office for a number of days, so we will need additional time to compile the 

requested sampling. We will send this sampling to you as soon as possible. Also, as

previously noted, the entire marketplace of Backpage ads have been extracted for you and 

is available for pick-up at your convenience. 

Additionally, given the voluminous amount of server data, the government agrees 

to provide to you with exhibits of any server data that we might utilize at trial. This should 

greatly assist you in focusing your efforts and attention on server data relevant to the case. 

Please reach out to me with additional questions. We will continue to work

diligently to answer them and facilitate your review of materials in this case.

BRIAN BENCZKOWSKI

Assistant Attorney General

Criminal Division 

U.S. Department of Justice

s/Reginald E. Jones

REGINALD E. JONES 

Senior Trial Attorney, CEOS

(202) 616-2807

reginald.jones4@usdoj.gov

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ELIZABETH A. STRANGE

First Assistant U.S. Attorney 

KEVIN M. RAPP

MARGARET PERLMETER 

PETER S. KOZINETS 

ANDREW STONE

Assistant United States Attorneys

JOHN J. KUCERA 

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney

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