凤凰城——周二，一名法官宣布对利润丰厚的分类网站Backpage.com创始人的审判无效，他们被指控为卖淫提供便利和洗钱。此前，法官裁定，在一个没有人面临此类指控的案件中，检察官过多地提到了儿童色情交易。
迈克尔·莱西、詹姆斯·拉金和其他四名Backpage员工被指控参与了一项在网站上故意销售性广告的计划。虽然检察官说，该网站发布了许多描绘性交易受害儿童的广告，但在亚利桑那州的联邦案件中，没有人被指控性交易或儿童性交易。
美国地方法官苏珊·布诺维奇(Susan Brnovich)表示，检察官在公开声明中以及政府证人提到的儿童性贩运的累积效应“是我不能忽视也不会忽视的事情。”
在审判之前，法官的结论是，她将允许有证据表明有人利用该网站被贩运，但不允许检察官对受害者遭受虐待的细节纠缠不清。
“政府似乎滥用了这个回旋余地，”布诺维奇说。法官说，一名政府证人作证说不止一次被强奸，这引起了“人们全新的情绪反应。”
布诺维奇说，她不认为检察官有故意不当行为，但她说，检察官的标准很高，不惜一切代价赢得胜利不是他们的工作。
莱西和拉金说，该网站从不允许性广告，并使用人和自动化工具试图删除此类广告。他们认为该网站上的内容受到第一修正案的保护，该网站帮助当局调查性交易案件，并因他们的协助赢得了执法部门的称赞。
总共有六名前背包客经营者对协助卖淫的指控不认罪。在这六人中，莱西、拉金和另外两人对洗钱指控不认罪。
莱西和拉金创办了凤凰新时报，持有《乡村之声》等其他周刊的所有权，并最终在2013年出售了他们的报纸。但他们保留了Backpage，当局称该公司从2004年成立到2018年4月被政府关闭，共创造了5亿美元的卖淫相关收入。
检察官说，Backpage的经营者无视停止播放卖淫广告的警告，有些广告涉及儿童。他们被指控向妓女提供免费广告，并与从事性交易的其他人达成安排，让她们在公司发布广告。
当局表示，Backpage的员工将通过谷歌搜索识别妓女，然后打电话给他们，并向他们提供免费广告。该网站还被指控有一项商业安排，即在另一个网站上投放广告，让顾客发布他们与妓女交往经历的评论。
检察官表示，该网站的节制努力旨在掩盖广告的真实性质。
该网站的营销主管承认合谋为卖淫提供便利，并承认他参与了一个向妓女免费投放广告以赢得她们生意的计划。此外，当政府关闭该网站时，该公司的首席执行官卡尔·费勒在亚利桑那州承认了一个单独的联邦阴谋案件，并在加利福尼亚州承认了洗钱指控。
法官已经安排了10月5日的身份听证会。
在加利福尼亚州州法院的另一起案件中，莱西和拉金此前对洗钱指控不认罪。检察官指控Backpage的运营商通过多家公司非法输送了近4500万美元，并创建了网站来绕过拒绝处理其交易的银行。
在此案的早些时候，一名法官驳回了对Backpage运营商的拉皮条阴谋和其他州指控，裁定这些指控被一项保护言论自由的联邦法律禁止，该法律赋予发布他人内容的网站豁免权。
Judge declares mistrial at trial of Backpage.com founders
PHOENIX -- A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday at the trial of the founders of the lucrative classified site Backpage.com on charges of facilitating prostitution and laundering money after deciding prosecutors had too many references to child sex trafficking in a case where no one faced such a charge.
Michael Lacey, James Larkin and four other Backpage employees were accused of taking part in a scheme to knowingly sell ads for sex on the site. While prosecutors say the site published many ads that depicted children who were victims of sex trafficking, no one in the federal case in Arizona is charged with sex trafficking or child sex trafficking.
U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich said that the cumulative effect of the child sex trafficking references made by prosecutors in opening statements and by witnesses for the government “is something that I can’t overlook and will not overlook.”
Before the trial, the judge concluded she would allow evidence showing that people were trafficked using the site, but would not allow prosecutors to linger on the details of the abuse suffered by victims.
“It seemed the government abused that leeway,” Brnovich said. The judge said one government witness testified about being raped more than once, which raises a “whole new emotional response from people.”
While saying she didn’t believe prosecutors had committed intentional misconduct, Brnovich said prosecutors are held to a high standard and it wasn’t their job to to win at all costs.
Lacey and Larkin said the site never allowed ads for sex and used people and automated tools to try to delete such ads. They maintained content on the site was protected by the First Amendment and that the site helped authorities in investigating sex trafficking cases and earned compliments from law enforcement for their assistance.
In all, six former Backpage operators have pleaded not guilty to charges of facilitating prostitution. Of the six, Lacey, Larkin and two others have pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges.
Lacey and Larkin founded the Phoenix New Times, held ownership interests in other weeklies such as The Village Voice and ultimately sold their newspapers in 2013. But they held onto Backpage, which authorities say generated $500 million in prostitution-related revenue from its inception in 2004 until April 2018 when it was shut down by the government.
Prosecutors say Backpage’s operators ignored warnings to stop running prostitution ads, some involving children. They are accused of giving free ads to prostitutes and cultivating arrangements with others who worked in the sex trade to get them to post ads with the company.
Authorities say Backpage employees would identify prostitutes through Google searches, then call and offer them a free ad. The site also is accused of having a business arrangement in which it would place ads on another site that lets customers post reviews of their experiences with prostitutes.
Prosecutors said the moderation efforts by the site were aimed at concealing the true nature of the ads.
The site’s marketing director has pleaded guilty to conspiring to facilitate prostitution and acknowledged he participated in a scheme to give free ads to prostitutes to win over their business. Additionally, the CEO of the company when the government shut the site down, Carl Ferrer, pleaded guilty to a separate federal conspiracy case in Arizona and to state money laundering charges in California.
The judge has scheduled an Oct. 5 status hearing.
In a separate case in state court in California, Lacey and Larkin had previously pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges. Prosecutors allege Backpage’s operators illegally funneled nearly $45 million through multiple companies and created websites to get around banks that refused to process their transactions.
Earlier in the case, a judge threw out pimping conspiracy and other state charges against Backpage’s operators, ruling the charges were barred by a federal law protecting free speech that grants immunity to websites posting content from others.
