The CEO of Backpage, a website that has been accused of allowing ads for child sex trafficking, was arrested Thursday in Texas.
Carl Ferrer, 55, was arrested on a warrant from California, which charged him with pimping children and other counts.
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In a joint investigation, California and Texas authorities said they found that adults and children had been forced into prostitution through escort ads on Backpage.
“Raking in millions of dollars from the trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable victims is outrageous, despicable and illegal,” California Attorney General Kamala Harris said in a statement. “Backpage and its executives purposefully and unlawfully designed Backpage to be the world’s top online brothel.”
According to a criminal complaint filed in California, Backpage accepted at least $2 million a month between October 2014 and May 2015 in payments from people posting adult ads in California, including payments for postings that featured minors.
Texas charged Ferrer with money laundering.