A Belorus-based payment processor whose child porn site Adult Sites Against Child Pornography began reporting to authorities almost a year ago is the root of a case in which the FBI has arrested at least 44, with four of its own plus a Florida executive with a partnering company pleading guilty.
CNN reported January 15 that federal officials made arrests in the U.S., France, Spain, and Belarus, in a case that stemmed from Minsk-based Regpay Co., Ltd, collecting fees for child porn sites that federal officials believe ran to the millions.
""When we followed the money, we ended up getting both the operators of this outfit... and meanwhile back here at home we were doing search warrants on people's computers who had subscribed via credit card to these child pornographic Websites," U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Michael Drewniak told CNN.
The case began with a Website known as pedoworld, which ASACP began reporting to the FBI in 2000, catching on to Regpay, which owned pedoworld and was once known as Trustbill.com, and sending the FBI reports on regpay.com since February 2003, according to ASACP executive director Joan Irvine.
"In fact," she told AVN.com, "we alerted the FBI (in Los Angeles) to how pedoworld was using a Hotmail address to obtain customers and direct them to payment methods." ASACP's Tim Henning sent the FBI in Los Angeles a report late last May on regpay.com which included their American telephone number for customer service, the URL for its contact page, and the precise billing link, Irvine said.
"It feels good knowing that ASACP and the adult site industry have contributed to these arrests," she said.
Two-dozen people in New Jersey and about 20 more around the U.S. were arrested for downloading child porn in this case, CNN reported, including a doctor, a teacher, and a minister, while Regpay and a Fort Lauderdale-based company, Connections USA, were indicted in a money-laundering scheme that involved paid memberships to at least 50 child porn Websites.
Four Regpay leaders have been indicted, with three others having been arrested last summer, authorities said, while one executive with Connections USA has reportedly pleaded guilty over his involvement in the case.
Regpay ran at least four child porn sites from Minsk, including pedoworld, while carrying ads for other adult sites, Attorney General John Ashcroft told CNN, processing an estimated $3 million from subscription fees for Websites, many of which were child porn sites.
"Today's indictment strikes at the heart of the commercial trade of child pornography by attacking the commercial profits derived from such a deplorable venture," Ashcroft said, adding the Regpay-based ring was hit through combined efforts of the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, immigrations and customs enforcement, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and law enforcement in Belarus, France, and Spain.
Irvine said ASACP – which has added staff, technology, and upgraded reviewing processes in the past year – was never apprised of the progress of the investigation. "They never let us know until or unless they make a bust," she said. "This is an FBI, a law enforcement investigation. And, remember, we are not a law enforcement agency. But they now have proof that the adult site industry has been contributing information to the FBI relevant to legitimate child pornography investigations."
