World

Pornhub owner reaches deal with US prosecutors over sex trafficking ties

2023.12.21 11:05


© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The seal of the United States Department of Justice is seen on the building exterior of the United States Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Phot

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The company that owns and operates adult entertainment websites including Pornhub.com has reached a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department over its ties to an alleged sex trafficking operation, court records showed.

Lawyers for Montreal-based Aylo Holdings, formerly known as MindGeek, are set to appear in Brooklyn federal court later on Thursday for a hearing on the proposed agreement, according to the records.

Federal prosecutors say Aylo’s websites hosted content from pornography websites GirlsDoPorn.com (GDP) and GirlsDoToys.com (GDT), whose creators and operators were charged in California in 2019 with deceiving and coercing young women to appear in sex videos. Several were convicted.

Aylo – whose brands also include YouPorn and Brazzers – knew that its proceeds from those websites stemmed from illegal activity, prosecutors said.

“Aylo deeply regrets that its platforms hosted any content produced by GDP/GDT,” the company said in a Nov. 10 statement posted on its website announcing the deferred prosecution agreement, adding that it would make an unspecified amount of “monetary payments” to victims.

The company added that GDP gave it purported consent forms signed by women in the videos that it now understands were the result of “fraud and coercion.”

Under the agreement, prosecutors will after three years dismiss their criminal charge against Aylo of engaging in monetary transactions derived from unlawful activity as long as the company improves its compliance protocols. Aylo will also have an independent compliance monitor for that period.

Hundreds of individuals have been identified as victims of GDP’s sex trafficking, prosecutors said.

Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 97,663.17 1.25%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,398.79 2.17%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.03%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 254.11 0.71%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 651.14 2.95%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 1.47 1.27%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.431452 5.21%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.02%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 1.07 7.30%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,398.52 2.17%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.21177 3.45%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 41.54 3.07%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 6.35 16.85%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000026 2.91%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.502157 47.84%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 4,032.92 3.02%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 97,486.12 0.91%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 8.49 27.86%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 17.46 5.86%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 507.58 4.04%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 3,400.88 2.33%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 3.45 2.20%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000021 0.53%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.62 2.19%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 6.19 1.36%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 99.10 8.11%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 12.73 2.91%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 10.76 11.53%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,585.20 2.45%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.1528 3.31%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.206344 7.86%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 11.39 1.26%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 1.00 0.87%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.565251 15.49%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 29.65 4.88%
render-token
Render (RENDER) $ 7.67 2.38%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 524.27 3.59%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.153144 0.09%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.06%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.42 11.62%
bonk
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000048 3.45%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 24.75 0.35%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.856961 5.91%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 1.00 0.03%
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.041979 17.44%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 3.68 5.18%
dogwifcoin
dogwifhat (WIF) $ 3.28 3.14%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 5.42 11.84%
cosmos
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 8.22 9.79%
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 51.22 10.82%