The Backpage website — notorious for prostitution and human trafficking — was seized Friday by federal authorities. This action was taken “as part of an enforcement action by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, with analytical assistance from the Joint Regional Intelligence Center,” according to a notice appearing where the website used to display ads.

Authorities have been tight-lipped about the reasons for the seizure, saying only that more information would be made available in the coming days. But along with the seizure, news reports from Arizona — where the company is based — say that the home of one of the founders of the site was also raided by the FBI. Considering the nature of the ads on Backpage and the fact that the company has recently been the subject of multiple investigations related to human trafficking and child exploitation, it is likely that that is the reason for the seizure.

Backpage has a long and checkered past. It began as the back page of a newspaper called the Phoenix New Times and was filled with classified ads. In 2004, the founders of the paper, Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, launched the Backpage website to compete with Craigslist. As Backpage was the most profitable part of the New Times, Lacey and Larkin retained ownership of that part of the business when they sold the paper in 2012.

Most ads were free to list, but some ads — particular those in the “adult services” section — were charged a fee. The site quickly became dominated by such ads — a majority of which were thinly-veiled offerings of prostitution. In January 2017, Backpage closed the “Adult Services” section, but those ads were simply moved over to the “Dating” section and business-as-usual continued.

While there are those in our sex-marinated society who would argue that “transactional sex” (a euphemism aimed at sanitizing the practice of buying and selling sex) should not be against the law as long as it is between consenting adults, there is a major component of the trade that is ignored by that argument.

That component is that the “consent” is often not really consent. First there is the fact that almost all prostitution is based on exploiting the weakness and financial needs of a woman who — if she felt she had other options — would not “consent” to — as the British pop band, Tears for Fears, described it in their 1989 hit song Woman in Chains — a “transaction” in which she “sells the only thing she owns.” When a man “rents” a woman to use as a sexual object, the “consent” touted by those who either profit from the sex trade industry or act as consumers of that industry is greatly diminished. When a woman’s ability to consent to sex is diminished by alcohol, drugs, or other things, the sex that takes place is often called rape. This should not be treated differently.

Human persons are not objects and should never be treated as such, even if their circumstances lead them to a place where they feel they have no other option than to sell themselves as such.

But way beyond that, many of the women in the sex trade industry are victims of human trafficking. Many of them are not women at all, but young girls. And as the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) points out, many of those young girls — after being enslaved by pimps — were sold on Backpage. On NCOSE’s “Dirty Dozen” list, Lacey, Larkin, and Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer are described as “top pimps” who have made millions of dollars with a website that one young victim described as a place where she had been ordered online “like a pizza.”

The NCOSE page exposing Backpage as “a virtual auction block where sex buyers can shop for human beings for sex from the privacy of their home, office, hotel room, or cell phone” says:

Backpage.com brings the seedy street corners of America’s red-light districts to home computers.

A classified advertising website known as “the hub” for prostitution advertising, Backpage.com serves as a virtual auction block where sex buyers can shop for human beings for sex from the privacy of their home, office, hotel room, or cell phone. Many of those bought and sold via the website are sexually trafficked women and children.

Reports show that Backpage facilitates this activity by editing ads to conceal the illegality of underlying criminal activity.

The page also cites a statistic from the National Center on Missing and Exploited Children that shows that 73 percent of all child sex trafficking cases it has handled involved children being sold on Backpage. That statistic comes from testimony given to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations by Mary Graw Leary, professor of law at Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law .

Another study (though not cited by NCOSE) from 2014 shows that roughly 70 percent of children survivors of human trafficking were sold at one time or another on Backpage.

As proof of these claims, the NCOSE page exposing Backpage has a button with the caption, “Personal Accounts: Sold on Backpage.” Clicking that button leads to the stories of survivors of Backpage’s “adult services” business model. One story features a young woman who is identified only as “Alissa” — the street name she was sold under. Alissa is now a 24-year-old college senior planning to become a lawyer. But between 16 and 17 years old, she was the captive slave of pimps who — as mentioned above — was kept in a Manhattan building “where she had repeatedly been ordered online as if she were a pizza.” The account — which is linked from a New York Times article tells of a scar the young woman will always bear. That scar was inflicted by a pimp when he gouged her cheek with a potato peeler as a warning not to escape. “Like cattle owners brand their cattle,” she said, fingering her cheek, “he wanted to brand me in a way that I would never forget.”

Alissa’s pimps used Backpage to sell her to those who abused her. Her pimps are now in jail, and her anger is focused on companies, such as Backpage, which willingly facilitated her enslavement. In the article, she asks, “You can’t buy a child at Wal-Mart, can you?” and then answers her own question, saying, “No, but you can go to Backpage and buy me.”

That is one of the tamer stories. The horrors some young girls (many of them barely post-pubescent) face are hard to read. One 15-year-old girl’s story is particularly horrible because it is so normal as to represent the status quo. The story — linked from a CNN blog post — tells of the girl, who had a “secret, online ‘friend’ who convinced her to run away with him. That’s when the story changed from a romance story to a horror story:

The child ran away with him. In less than a week, her "friend," a known pimp, had posted pictures of her online in Backpage.com's adult section selling the child for sex.

"He took her and beat her into submission, raping her, and then held her in prostitution," says Dawn, who asked we change her name to protect the family. She learned details of her daughter's ordeal by reading the criminal complaint filed against the man, who has pleaded not guilty.

The case is being prosecuted by the office of Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, who says he has several cases against men prostituting girls as young as 15.

"These pimps are pretty adroit, manipulative people ... they may take them out for an evening and at the end of the evening is sex with the pimp and subsequently these girls are in the business of prostitution."

And the market-of-choice for these adroit pimps who enslave women and children and forcibly sell them as sexual objects was Backpage. The site’s operators routinely edited the ads to keep the language just below the threshold of illegal appearance while using code words to assist the sale of girls they knew were children. One of those code words was both dark and telling: “Amber Alert.”

Before being shuttered by authorities, Backpage enjoyed a ranking as the second largest online marketplace, with Craigslist leading the pack. Craigslist was once nearly as bad as Backpage, but removed its “Adult Services” section (which had previously been “Erotic Services”). Like Backpage, Craigslist simply moved those ads to its “dating” section, called “Casual Encounters.”

Casual Encounters was also removed. But hold the applause. The shutdown wasn’t so much a conscionable decision to do what’s right, as forced action by Congress due to the newly passed — the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act.

As evidence that Craigslist did not act out of a properly re-calibrated moral compass, the article includes the notice that Craigslist ran to explain the missing “Casual Encounters” page. That notice stated:

US Congress just passed HR 1865, “FOSTA”, seeking to subject websites to criminal and civil liability when third parties (users) misuse online personals unlawfully.

Any tool or service can be misused. We can’t take such risk without jeopardizing all of our other services, so we are regrettably taking craigslist personals offline. Hopefully we can bring them back some day.

To the millions of spouses, partners, and couples who met through craigslist, we wish you every happiness.

Of course, the notice — while wishing “every happiness” to the alleged “millions” of people in successful relationships started as a result of the site — does not say anything to those whose lives were ruined — or ended — as a result of the human trafficking the site abetted. But then, “We are sorry for your mental and physical scars” and “May your souls rest in peace” doesn’t ring with the same PR spin as “We wish you every happiness.”

The seizure of Backpage will likely serve to keep Craigslist’s plans to bring its “Casual Encounters” (human trafficking) section “back some day” at bay.

The seizure included all of the company’s servers and equipment. As Cindy McCain, wife of Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), told AZCentral, federal authorities “confiscated everything and shut the website down.” Also, charges have been brought against Backpage cofounder Michael Lacey.

This is a developing story and The New American will continue to keep our readers updated as it progresses. </s> PHOENIX — A founder of a 45-year-old alternative weekly newspaper in Phoenix has been charged in the apparent culmination of a federal human-trafficking investigation.

Michael Lacey, 69, of Sedona, Ariz., who helped build a nationwide media empire out of the Phoenix New Times, was charged Friday as part a 93-count indictment that remained sealed late Friday, according to Lacey’s lawyer, Larry Kazan.

Lacey also co-founded the online classified advertising site Backpage, and authorities had spent months probing whether the website served as a willing participant in the online sale of sex, including with underage girls.

Lacey, former editor of New Times, and Jim Larkin, the former publisher, were arrested in October 2016 on California charges that they had profited from prostitution activities through Backpage. A judge there threw out charges that the pair and Backpage Chief Executive Carl Ferrer conspired to engage in pimping.

Friday’s charges are only the latest in a list of legal troubles for Lacey and also perhaps for Larkin, whose Paradise Valley, Ariz., home was the scene of an FBI search Friday.

► April 6: FBI raids Backpage founder’s home just as classified listing site shut down

 ► April 6: Feds seize sex marketplace Backpage, a Delaware LLC in ‘good standing’

 ► March 21: Senate approves bill to curb sex-trafficking, sending it to president

Before Backpage, launched in 2004, both men had built a chain of alternative weeklies across the USA with a mixture of arts coverage and investigations. In 2005, Lacey and Larkin bought out Village Voice Media in New York City.

In 2012, the men sold all the newspapers to the chain’s editors and publishers. In interviews at the time, Lacey said he did so to shield the journalism from the furor over Backpage.

They began Backpage as an alternative to Craigslist, and it became the second most popular online classified site in the U.S. behind Craigslist.

Its problems didn’t stem from the pets for sale section, but the personal ads — what a Senate subcommittee last year considered as people for sale, knowingly aiding in prostitution and child sex trafficking.

Craigslist restricted and then closed its erotic services section in 2010. Backpage considered that move an economic opportunity.

“Craig killed his adult section last night in all US markets,” read an October 2010 e-mail from Ferrer. “It is an opportunity for us.”

Backpage experienced a 50% growth in ad volume within two months of Craigslist closing its adult section, according to an internal history of the company included in the Senate report.

Backpage shut down its adult section in January 2017, the same day Lacey, Larkin and other Backpage executives were called to testify at that Senate subcommittee hearing. The men refused to answer any questions then.

The types of ads that had appeared in the adult section of Backpage, including racy photos, migrated to the singles section. In recent weeks, in response to a federal law that holds websites accountable for knowingly facilitating human trafficking, the ads were restricted to a phone number, photos and links to other websites.

► Feb. 13: ‘It lights up the brain like crack’: Why men buy sex

 ► Aug. 4: Who’s buying sex? Married white men, Minnesota study says

Cindy McCain, wife of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and an outspoken critic of human trafficking, said she had heard that federal law enforcement officials had raided not only Lacey’s home, but every Backpage office worldwide.

“They’ve confiscated everything and shut the website down,” she said.

Cindy McCain called it a good day in the fight against human trafficking.

She said she and other advocates had worked for years to get Backpage to change its business model, but the company consistently refused.

“I wish that it didn’t have to go this far,” she said. “I wish they would have cooperated with us when we tried to get them to see they needed to stop this.”

Liz McDougall, a lawyer for Backpage, said Friday evening that she could not comment on the day’s events. Lacey and Larkin have also not responded to interview requests from The Arizona Republic.

For years, as advocates criticized the website as a forum for prostitution ads, lawyers representing Lacey, Larkin and Backpage, asserted that the site merely hosted ads others wrote and was responsible for neither the content nor consequences.

Lawyers for the website further argued that Backpage cooperated with law enforcement and took steps to curb sex trafficking from being conducted through the site.

Federal authorities pointed to internal e-mails they said showed that website actively edited ads with the intention of masking that illegal activity, not preventing it. Backpage employed an automated system that screened out words possibly indicative of illegal activity, rather than passing that information on to law enforcement, investigators concluded.

Internal e-mails showed that Backpage supervisors would debate whether certain words or phrases were obvious indicators of an exchange of money for sex, or if they were, as one executive wrote, “phrases of nuance.”

► Aug. 1: Senators: Alter Internet laws to hold Backpage liable for sex trafficking

 ► February 2017: Phoenix domestic-violence shelter files suit against Backpage

Words like “quickie” and “afternoon delight” were allowed, according to the e-mails. Other terms, including “amber alert” and “cheerleader,” were deemed indicative of minors being offered for sex and banned from the site, the e-mails said.

The business was lucrative. The adult ads were among the few Backpage charged users to post. Backpage earned $135 million in 2014, according to a U.S. Senate report.

A February 2015 appraisal said the company was worth more than $600 million.

A federal grand jury had been presented with evidence against Backpage since at least February 2017, according to court filings in a civil suit filed against Backpage.

In March 2017, each man filed paperwork that removed their names from homes they had owned.

Larkin made the Paradise Valley home he owned with his wife a gift to her as her “sole and separate property,” according to the documents. Lacey conveyed his Sedona home to a limited liability company called Creek Hideaway. </s> Nearly a week ago, the classified advertising website Backpage.com was seized by the Department of Justice on accounts of facilitating prostitution and money laundering from its forum.

According to the recently released reports, Backpage.com co-founder and CEO Carl Ferrer pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges in Arizona a day before the site was seized and shut down.

Moreover, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced his office’s prosecution of Backpage.com resulted in the company pleading guilty to human trafficking in the state and its CEO pleading guilty to money laundering.

"Taking down Backpage and obtaining a criminal conviction for the company and its CEO represents a significant victory in the fight against human trafficking in Texas and around the world," Paxton said in a statement.

The chief executive of a Dallas-based website, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and three counts of money laundering, will only serve maximum of five years in prison under a California agreement.

Along with the prison time, Ferrer could also face a $250,000 fine in the federal case in Arizona, while Backpage.com could face a maximum fine of $500,000 for its money laundering conspiracy plea in the Arizona case.

Under his plea agreement, Ferrer agreed to reveal company’s data to law enforcement agencies as investigations and prosecutions continue.

His admissions came amid the cascade of developments against Backpage.com founders Michael Lacey and James Larkin. Ferrer also agreed to cooperate in the ongoing California prosecution against the founders who have not pleaded guilty.

The plea deal also included admissions from Ferrer that a large number of the site's ads were for sex services and that he schemed with others to launder proceeds from the ads after credit card companies and banks wouldn't do business with them.

Since it began in 2004, federal prosecutors said the website brought in a half-billion dollars, mostly through prominent crude advertisements for escorts and massages, among other services and some goods for sale.

A two-year Senate investigation into online sex trafficking revealed the Backpage.com deliberately aided criminal sex trafficking of women and underage girls.

“For far too long, Backpage.com existed as the dominant marketplace for illicit commercial sex, a place where sex traffickers frequently advertised children and adults alike,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.

“But this illegality stops right now. Last Friday, the Department of Justice seized Backpage, and it can no longer be used by criminals to promote and facilitate human trafficking,” he added.

The obscene activities of the website had drawn the attention of authorities in the past. The company had encountered several lawsuits but remained largely protected by Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, a legal protection that gives a broad layer of immunity to online companies from being held liable for user-generated content.

The day Department of Justice seized the website, nation’s most prominent activist group Women’s March said in a statement on Twitter: “The shutting down of #Backpage is an absolute crisis for sex workers who rely on the site to safely get in touch with clients. Sex workers rights are women’s rights.”

After the latest confessions from the CEO surfaced, people are calling out the group on Twitter. </s> The online advertising site Backpage.com and its chief executive have pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges in Arizona.

The guilty pleas by the company and 57-year-old CEO Carl Ferrer were made on April 5, but were unsealed late Thursday afternoon.

The acknowledgements of wrongdoing came shortly after Ferrer pleaded guilty on Thursday to a state money laundering charges in California and the company pleaded guilty to human trafficking in Texas.

He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and three counts of money laundering. He also agreed to cooperate in the ongoing California prosecution of Backpage.com founders Michael Lacey, and James Larkin. They have pleaded not guilty.

Ferrer says in his federal plea deal that he was aware that a great majority of the site's ads were for sex services.

He also says he conspired with others at Backpage.com to launder the proceeds from such ads after credit card companies and banks refused to do business with the site.

State agents raided the Dallas headquarters of Backpage and arrested Ferrer on a California warrant after he arrived at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport on a flight from Amsterdam on Oct. 6, 2016.

He will serve no more than five years in a state prison under the plea agreement or he could pay a fine of $250,000.

Co-founder James Larkin underwent a hearing Thursday over whether to release him from jail. Magistrate Judge Bridget Bade says attorneys have agreed on the terms of release, but other details must be ironed out. The hearing will resume Monday.

Larkin, co-founder Michael Lacey and five Backpage.com employees were arrested in what authorities say was a scheme to publish ads for sexual services.

Four employees and the site founders pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The founders also were among those indicted this month by a federal grand jury in Arizona. Ferrer was noticeably absent from the federal indictment, which referenced a 'CF' who was heavily involved with the site.

Ferrer also agreed to make the company's data available to law enforcement.

In a press statement obtained by USA Today, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions praised the seizure of Backpage.

'For far too long, Backpage.com existed as the dominant marketplace for illicit commercial sex, a place where sex traffickers frequently advertised children and adults alike,' he said. 'But this illegality stops right now.' </s> Backpage.com, a popular classified website operating in the United States was seized and shut down by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Friday, April 6, following allegations of sexual trafficking facilitation against the platform. FBI agents confirmed that raids were carried out in the residence of Michael Lacey, the founder of Backpage.

"Backpage.com and affiliated websites have been seized as part of an enforcement action," says the banner that popped up on the site posted by the FBI, US Postal Inspection Service and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division.

Backpage.com under the scanner for many years

Backpage.com has been under the scanner of FBI for the past few years. The investigation agency has been monitoring the website's adult ads page after several allegations were made that it was acting as a platform to "facilitate" sex trafficking.

The website's adult ads page allows users to post about escort services, and investigators revealed that many of the advertisements on this page were actually for minor girls.

Earlier, a two year Senate investigation which probed into online sex trafficking had found that Backpage.com played a key role in aiding sex trafficking of women and young girls. As the investigation report surfaced in January 2017, Backpage.com shut down its adult ads section.

Years of legal battle and finally the 'End'

Backpage.com has also faced several legal hassles in the past and was largely protected by Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. This act offers legal protection to online companies from being liable to contents generated by its users. Most online companies who engage in malicious activities often use this law as a shield. However, the law does not protect the company if content related to child pornography is published by the site.

U.S. Senator John McCain (Arizona) issued a statement following the shut down of the website sayiing that the seizure of Backpage.com marks an important step forward in the fight against human trafficking.

"The seizure of the malicious sex marketplace Backpage.com marks an important step forward in the fight against human trafficking. This builds on the historic effort in Congress to reform the law that for too long has protected websites like Backpage from being held liable for enabling the sale of young women and children. Today's action sends a strong message to Backpage and any other company facilitating online sex trafficking that they will be held accountable for these horrific crimes," said McCain.

Last month, the Senate had approved a bipartisan legislation called the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act. This legislation created an exception to section 230, allowing the victims of sexual trafficking to sue the websites accountable for facilitating abuse. Soon after the Senate approval, Craigslist, the competitor of Backpage.com closed their personal ads section. </s> The Justice Department announced Thursday that Backpage’s co-founder and CEO, Carl Ferrer, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to facilitate prostitution using a facility in interstate or foreign commerce and to engage in money laundering.

Additionally, several Backpage-related corporate entities, including Backpage.com LLC, have entered guilty pleas to conspiracy to engage in money laundering.

Last week, the classifieds website was seized and shut down by the FBI.

The FBI confirmed that agents also raided the Sedona home of Michael Lacey, the founder of Backpage.com.

Backpage.com has been under investigation for years for claims that the site facilitates sex trafficking on their adult ads page.

The site allowed users to post ads for 'escorts' and investigators say many of the ads are actually for underage girls.

The FBI seized the website because it was allegedly being used to facilitate crime. The FBI has done this before with other sex trafficking websites and online pharmacies.

There are 17 victims named in the documents who are both adults and children who say they were forced into sex trafficking.

[READ MORE: Phoenix PD bust man with prostitution ad on Backpage.com]

“For far too long, Backpage.com existed as the dominant marketplace for illicit commercial sex, a place where sex traffickers frequently advertised children and adults alike,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “But this illegality stops right now. Last Friday, the Department of Justice seized Backpage, and it can no longer be used by criminals to promote and facilitate human trafficking."

“Backpage has earned hundreds of millions of dollars from facilitating prostitution and sex trafficking, placing profits over the well-being and safety of the many thousands of women and children who were victimized by its practices,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth A. Strange. “It is appropriate that Backpage is now facing criminal charges in Arizona, where the company was founded, and I applaud the tremendous efforts of the agents who contributed to last Friday’s enforcement action and who assisted in obtaining the indictment in this case."

According to his plea agreement, Ferrer admitted that he had long been aware that the great majority of Backpage’s “escort” and “adult” advertisements are, in fact, advertisements for prostitution services, which are not protected by the First Amendment and which are illegal in 49 states and in much of Nevada.

Ferrer further admitted that he conspired with other Backpage principals to find ways to knowingly facilitate the state-law prostitution crimes being committed by Backpage’s customers. For example, he worked with his co-conspirators to create “moderation” processes through which Backpage would remove terms and pictures that were particularly indicative of prostitution and then publish a revised version of the ad.

Ferrer admitted that these editing practices were only one component of an overall, company-wide culture and policy of concealing and refusing to officially acknowledge the true nature of the services being offered in Backpage’s “escort” and “adult” ads.

In his plea agreement, Ferrer also admitted that he conspired with other Backpage principals to engage in various money laundering offenses.

According to the agreement, since 2004, Backpage has earned hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from publishing “escort” and “adult” ads. Over time, many banks, credit card companies, and other financial institutions refused to do business with Backpage due to the illegal nature of its business.

In response, Ferrer admitted that he worked with his co-conspirators to find ways to fool credit card companies into believing that Backpage-associated charges were being incurred on different websites, to route Backpage-related payments and proceeds through bank accounts held in the name of seemingly unconnected entities, and to use cryptocurrency-processing companies for similar purposes.

Ferrer’s plea agreement also requires him to take all steps within his power to immediately shut down the Backpage website, including providing technical assistance to the United States to effectuate the shutdown, and to take all steps within his power to forfeit to the United States all corporate assets and other property owned or controlled by various Backpage-related entities.

The plea agreement provides that, if Ferrer fails to comply with either of these requirements, the plea agreement shall be null and void and the United States may bring additional charges against Ferrer. Ferrer’s plea agreement, and the corporate plea agreements, also consent to the forfeiture of certain assets and items of property, including various domain names associated with the Backpage website.

[READ MORE: Phoenix officials raise awareness about human trafficking with new PSA]

The seven defendants charged in the 93-count indictment were all arrested on Friday, April 6.

They are Michael Lacey, 69, of Paradise Valley, Arizona; James Larkin, 68, of Paradise Valley, Arizona; Scott Spear, 67, of Scottsdale, Arizona; John E. “Jed” Brunst, 66, of Phoenix, Arizona; Daniel Hyer, 49, of Dallas, Texas; Andrew Padilla, 45, of Plano, Texas; and Jaala Joye Vaught, 37, of Addison, Texas.

On April 6, Vaught had her initial court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Eileen Willett of the District of Arizona and was released from custody pending trial. Lacey, who also had his initial court appearance on April 6 before Judge Willett, subsequently had a detention hearing on April 11 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bridget S. Bade of the District of Arizona and was ordered to temporarily remain in custody until his continued hearing on Friday, April 13.

On April 9, Larkin, Spear, and Brunst had their initial court appearances before Judge Bade. Larkin has since been ordered to temporarily remain in custody until a continued detention hearing on Monday, April 16, and Spear and Brunst were released from custody pending trial.

Also on April 9, Hyer had his initial court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge David L. Horan in the Northern District of Texas and was released from custody pending trial, and Padilla had his initial court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Christine A. Nowak in the Eastern District of Texas and was released from custody pending trial.

[RELATED: John and Cindy McCain applaud the arrest of Backpage.com CEO]

Click/tap here to download the free azfamily mobile app. </s> Documents unsealed today by the Justice Department (PDF) reveal Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges in Arizona on April 5th, a day before the site was seized and shut down. Additionally, attorneys general in California and Texas announced today that he has entered guilty pleas to charges of human trafficking in Texas as well as conspiracy and three counts of money laundering in California. Several corporate entities tied to the site, including Backpage.com LLC, also entered guilty pleas to charges of money laundering.

As a part of the deal that will see him serve a maximum of five years in prison, the prosecutors say Ferrer has surrendered the URLs of the site and its data to law enforcement, and that he will cooperate in the prosecution against others involved with the company -- namely co-founders and controlling shareholders Michael Lacey and James Larkin, who were indicted April 9th.

The plea deal includes Ferrer's admission that a majority of the site's ads were for sex services, and that he conspired with others to launder proceeds from the ads after credit card companies and banks wouldn't do business with the site. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. law enforcement agencies have seized the sex marketplace website Backpage.com as part of an enforcement action by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to a posting on the Backpage website on Friday.

An image of the current home page of the website backpage.com shows logos of U.S. law enforcement agencies after they seized the sex marketplace site April 6, 2018. backpage.com via REUTERS

Groups and political leaders working to end forced prostitution and child exploitation celebrated the shutdown of Backpage, a massive ad marketplace that is primarily used to sell sex. But some internet and free speech advocates warned the action could lead to harsh federal limits on expression and the press.

The website posting said U.S. attorneys in Arizona and California, as well as the Justice Department’s section on child exploitation and obscenity and the California and Texas attorneys general had helped shut down the website.

The Justice Department said late on Friday that a court in Arizona ruled the case remains sealed, which puts any legal information under wraps. In the posting about the seizure, the department had originally said more information would be made public on Friday evening.

A Phoenix FBI official said that there was “law enforcement activity” at the Sedona, Arizona home of Michael Lacey, one of the founders of Backpage, but referred further inquiries to the Justice Department.

Reuters was unable to reach representatives of Backpage for comment.

“Today, Backpage was shutdown. It’s a huge step. Now no child will be sold for sex through this website,” tweeted Senator Heidi Heitkamp.

Heitkamp helped draft legislation passed by the Senate last month that makes it easier for state prosecutors and sex-trafficking victims to sue social media networks, advertisers and others that fail to keep sex trafficking and exploitative materials off their platforms..

President Donald Trump will sign the bill into law next week, said Heitkamp. The legislation, featured prominently in the popular Netflix documentary “I am Jane Doe,” amends the Communications Decency Act, which has shielded website operators from state criminal charges or civil liability if they facilitate sex ads or prostitution.

“Shutting down the largest online U.S. marketplace for sex trafficking will dramatically reduce the profitability of forcing people into the commercial sex trade, at least in the short term,” said Bradley Myles, chief executive of Polaris, an international anti-slavery group that runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

There would be “a dramatic shift in the marketplace starting tonight,” he added.

Backpage and advocacy groups say the ads are free speech protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Backpage has affiliates across the country and around the world, and by 2014 brought in annual revenue of $135 million, the New York Times has reported.

The Supreme Court in January 2017 refused to consider reviving a lawsuit against Backpage that was filed by three young women, who accused it of facilitating their forced prostitution.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has told Congress that nearly three quarters of the cases submitted to the center relate to ads posted on the site. The state of California has said that 90 percent of the site’s income were attributable to “adult ads.”

In 2016, Texas and California authorities raided the company’s Dallas headquarters and arrested chief executive Carl Ferrer and other former company executives on pimping-related charges. The judge in the case ruled the website was protected by the First Amendment, and it was not liable for the speech of third parties. </s> The Justice Department has seized the popular classified ads website backpage.com over the sex trafficking ads on its website.

It unsealed charges Friday evening against seven people who run the site, although it’s not clear how many have been arrested, CBS News’ Paula Reid reports.

The indictment contains 93 counts of several different crimes including money laundering and running a website to facilitate prostitution.

The federal government was able to seize the website because it was allegedly being used to facilitate crime.The government has used this approach in the past with other sex trafficking websites and online pharmacies. There are 17 victims named in these documents – adults and children who were forced into sex trafficking.

The charges are not about child exploitation, though — the Justice Department was able to charge them on other crimes.

The charges were filed in Arizona, where the website was founded and maintained, and the Backpage servers are also located here.

The Justice Department says almost every sex trafficking case involves online ads, mostly from the backpage.com website. Further, the department contends that the biggest issue concerning these websites is that they facilitate sex trafficking for people who would have been too sheepish to pursue sex on the streets, especially those looking for children. DOJ views this action as a major development in its overall effort to combat sex trafficking, although there have been previous cases against Backpage that were thrown out.

On Friday, some visitors to the site were greeted with a message that said, “backpage.com and affiliated websites have been seized as part of an enforcement action” by the FBI, the Postal Inspection Service and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division. Another agency participating in the action is the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

Last year, a Senate report alleged Backpage “knowingly concealed evidence” of child sex trafficking through its editing “by deleting words, phrases, and images indicative of criminality”. Senate investigators said words like “young,” “little girl” and “innocent” were removed while “the remainder of the ad would be published.”

Backpage executives called to testify before Congress after the report was published took the fifth. The company accused senators of conducting a “witch hunt” against the site and said it cooperates with police departments to locate victims.

Some victims believe the federal action will help their civil lawsuits against Backpage. But others are concerned about the website shutting down because it could drive more child sex trafficking to the dark web and make it harder to find victims.
Several U.S. federal authorities led by the FBI seize the personal ad website Backpage in an effort to stop alleged human trafficking, including that of minors. Its co-founders Michael Lacey and James Larkin were also charged with 93 counts of human trafficking.