Attorneys for Michael Lacey and the other four defendants countered that their clients had nothing to do with the daily operations of classified ads. The clash over culpability was at the center of opening statements in the second trial of all five on charges of facilitating prostitution and laundering money in what authorities say was a scheme to knowingly sell ads for sex on the classified site.
Attorney Andrew Stone said. The evidence is going to show the term escort used on Backpage, that's not what it meant. He also argued customers of Backpage bought ad space and posted the content themselves. The platform isn't responsible if someone answers an ad and an illegal act takes place later, Cambria said. Their first trial ended in a mistrial in September when a judge concluded prosecutors had too many references to child sex trafficking in a case where no one faced such a charge.
Lacey founded the Phoenix New Times weekly newspaper with James Larkin, who was charged in the case and died by suicide in July. Lacey and Larkin held ownership interests in other weeklies such as The Village Voice and ultimately sold their newspapers in In all, five former Backpage operators have pleaded not guilty to charges of facilitating prostitution.
Of the five, Lacey and two others have pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges. 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. 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.
