In April, just a week after federal agents raided and seized the online classified ad site Backpage.com, the company’s CEO agreed to a plea deal with government prosecutors and pled guilty to conspiracy and money laundering charges, as AVN.com reported, in connection with allegations that the site had facilitated prostitution and sex trafficking with its freewheeling adult classified ad service.
Ferrer, the feds also revealed, had agreed to cooperate with investigators and in fact had been doing so since April 5, the day before the federal agents shut down the site. His sentencing hearing had been set for January 17, 2019, according to The Arizona Republic, where Ferrer was based, but for reasons that remain unclear, prosecutors have asked for a delay of six months, to July 19.
It was Ferrer who, according to the Republic report, first pitched the idea of the online classified site to Michal Lacey and James Larkin, owners of the Phoenix New Times weekly newspaper, and its nationwide chain of affiliated “alternative” weekly papers.
Lacey and Larkin were also indicted on multiple counts that they laundered hundreds of millions in proceeds from the site, knowing, the accusations said, that the site derived its income from illegal prostitution activities, including the sex trafficking of minors, as AVN.com reported.
Court documents filed November 30 by prosecutors stated that the delay in Ferrer’s sentencing was being requested “in the interests of justice,” but prosecutors declined to comment any further on the reasons for their request.
As has been widely reported in connection with the investigation into Donald Trump’s Russia connections, prosecutors often request delays in sentencing when they believe that a cooperating individual has more information to offer investigators—a possibility that may line up with the lengthy delay in Lacey and Larkin’s trial date, forcing the Backpage founders to wait two years before they are able to fight the charges against them in court.
Photo By Texas Office of the Attorney General
