LOS ANGELES—A federal district judge ruled on Thursday to tentatively dismiss claims against the credit card processing giant Visa in ongoing consolidated litigation against the parent company of Pornhub that alleges profits from sex trafficking and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) once hosted on the platform.
Courthouse News reports the ruling has not yet been made public.
Pornhub is owned by Aylo, which was previously branded as MindGeek under former leadership. A class of women, almost all "Jane Does" besides Serena Fleites, filed at least 15 individual lawsuits against the company and its entities, alleging profits from child sex trafficking.
Note, Fleites was the primary subject of a highly controversial New York Times investigative opinion column written by Nicholas Kristof titled "The Children of Pornhub."
After the hearing held Thursday, U.S. District Judge Wesley Hsu of the Central District of California agreed with legal counsel representing Visa that the company could not be held liable for the CSAM material that was posted to Pornhub as it only conducted payment processing for the platform's users.
Judge Hsu additionally held that he could tentatively dismiss the former owners and investors of MindGeek, well before the acquisition by Ethical Capital Partners, from the consolidated lawsuits due to a lack of personal jurisdiction. Aylo's holdings company is incorporated in Luxembourg and is run out of offices in Europe, Canada and the U.S.
Michael Bowe, one of the attorneys representing the 15 women in court, said Judge Hsu made this decision in error.
"Those three people who ran the company can't just walk away because of a complete fiction maintained by a handful of accountants and lawyers," Bowe said, referring to former Pornhub owners Bernd Bergmair, Feras Antoon and David Tassillo.
