Backpage's Michael Lacey Gets 5-Year Sentence
Plus: New York authorities set seized weed on fire, Pavel Durov charged by French authorities, and more...
Backpage sentence handed down: Yesterday, Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey was sentenced to 60 months in prison. Lacey, who has been dragged through this legal ordeal for years (an ordeal which contributed to the suicide of his longtime partner/co-founder, Jim Larkin), was found guilty last fall of one count of international concealment of money laundering. Lacey and Larkin long ago began to attract the scrutiny—and worse—of federal prosecutors for their roles in running the classified ad site, Backpage, which prostitutes used to advertise their services.
"This is not a case where the defendant went off on his own to hide an asset," wrote Lacey's lawyers. "Instead, in the years that preceded the international wire transfer at issue, federal law enforcement officers had visited his banks and suggested to those banks that it would be bad for their reputation to have him as a client, which then resulted in the banks terminating their relationship with him. This occurred when there were no charges pending."
After being denied access to the U.S. banking system, turning elsewhere seems like rational behavior—and it was behavior his whole legal team was aware of, Lacey's lawyers claim. "The entire transaction was papered and executed by counsel. Michael did not hide anything from his counsel, explaining to them that the funds at issue were from the sale of Backpage. As his counsel, [John] Becker, explained at trial, he believed and still believes the transaction to be fully lawful. There was no intent to conceal, and no actual concealment, but rather, an intent to disclose and actual disclosure."
Big picture: For their part, prosecutors say that Lacey and the others who created and maintained Backpage "made a calculated decision to pursue a livelihood built on prostitution ads, and maintained that path, year after year, supporting a succession of criminal users of their website." They charged Lacey with 85 total counts, including "using Backpage to knowingly facilitate prostitution, in violation of the U.S. Travel Act." Lacey maintains that Backpage was protected by the First Amendment.
The prosecutors in this case "helped create a playbook for suppressing online speech, debanking disfavored groups, and using 'conspiracy' charges to imprison the government's targets," wrote Elizabeth Nolan Brown, who has been following this case for years, in an article from April. (Note Kamala Harris' starring role.)
That it has now culminated in five years in prison for an elderly man who has already lost so much as a result of the federal government's persecution comes as no surprise.
The jury was hung on 84 count & a judge later dismissed many of these. But prosecutors plan to try Lacey again on the unresolved counts… which involve actions they urge the judge *this time* to consider at sentencing
So Lacey could wind up sentenced TWICE for the same activity
— Elizabeth Nolan Brown (@ENBrown) August 27, 2024
"Flight by suicide". Consider the sickness and evil of any mind which could not only voice such a phrase aloud in court, but also demand it prevented lest the intended victims escape the State's torture. The depth of depravity to which these prosecutors have sunk is nauseating. https://t.co/TUe0sdDzrX
— Maggie McNeill (@Maggie_McNeill) August 28, 2024
Scenes from New York: Beyond parody.
Watch illegal cannabis go up in smoke as we incinerate illegal products confiscated in New York City: https://t.co/g00e5M0MO7
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) August 28, 2024
QUICK HITS
- The surgeon general says that four in 10 American parents are so stressed they can "barely function" and that "government aid, in the form of child tax credits, universal preschool, early childhood education programs, paid family and medical leave, paid sick time and investments in social infrastructure, can help," per Politico. I think this is more than a little misguided. More here.
- Fair point:
NEW: Why should Kamala Harris sit down and take questions from the press and public?
Not because it's good for her. It probably isn't.
Not because it's good for ratings. Who cares?Because it's what you do in a democracy. Do we want one or not?https://t.co/nF9YOP8bSt
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) August 28, 2024
- "After a roadside bomb killed a Marine in the town of Haditha in November 2005, the rest of his squad shot dead 24 unarmed Iraqi men, women, and children, many of them inside their own homes," writes Reason's Matthew Petti. "The Marine Corps then lied about it, claiming that the victims were all killed by the bomb or by running gun battles with insurgents. Only dogged reporting by Time Magazine forced the military to open an investigation. No one was ever jailed for the killings or the coverup. Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, the commander of the squad, pleaded guilty to one count of dereliction of duty and was demoted. The military avoided a public relations disaster, Gen. Michael Hagee would later brag, because graphic photos of the massacre were never published. Until now."
- A great compilation from The New York Times: 12 times Robert F. Kennedy Jr. criticized former President Donald Trump. (RFK Jr. recently dropped out of the presidential race and was appointed to Trump's transition team.)
- "Sex work has gotten so rampant again in S.F.'s Mission District, residents are suing the city," reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
- Pavel Durov, the founder of messaging app Telegram, was charged yesterday by French authorities with "complicity in managing an online platform to enable illegal transactions by an organized group, which could lead to a sentence of up to 10 years in prison," as well as "complicity in crimes such as enabling the distribution of child sexual abuse material, drug trafficking and fraud, and refusing to cooperate with law enforcement," reports The New York Times. Durov's case is the latest example of authorities trying to punish the founder of a platform for conduct that occurs on or via the platform. (Haven't we heard this one before?)
- "The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily grounded SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets on Wednesday after a booster failed to land upright and exploded following the successful launch of Starlink satellites," reports Axios.
