U.S. Attorney's Office Shuts Down Website Promoting Prostitution and Sex Trafficking, Indicts Owner

[Budi]

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/pr/us-attorney-s-office-shuts-down-website-promoting-prostitution-and-sex-trafficking

U.S. Attorney’s Office Shuts Down Website Promoting Prostitution and Sex Trafficking, Indicts Owner

The website CityXGuide.com — a leading source of online advertisements for prostitution and sex trafficking that users described as “taking over from where Backpage left off” — has been seized and its owner charged in a 28-count federal indictment, announced United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Erin Nealy Cox.

Wilhan Martono, 46, was indicted on June 2 on one count of promotion of prostitution and reckless disregard of sex trafficking, one count of interstate racketeering conspiracy (facilitating prostitution), nine counts of interstate transportation in aid of racketeering (facilitating prostitution), and 17 counts of money laundering. He was arrested on June 17 in Fremont, California by Homeland Security Investigations and the United States Secret Service.

Shortly after the defendant’s arrest, CityXGuide was replaced with a splash page notifying users that the website had been seized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security pursuant to a warrant.

[Budi]

1. CONTINUED:

CityXGuide and its companion websites allegedly allowed advertisers to select from a pre-populated list of “intimate activities,” then add nude photographs, descriptions, work hours, methods of payment, and contact information for the women being advertised. In order to secure premium placement, the websites offered paid “upgrades,” which could be purchased in Bitcoin or in exchange for gift cards from Walmart, Best Buy, Lowe’s, Amazon, and other retailers.
Mr. Martono allegedly used CardCash, a third party gift card reseller, to exchange these gift cards for U.S. currency.

Mr. Martono allegedly took steps to conceal his online activity by routing website traffic through an IP address in Europe, using a VPN to mask his IP address while conducting CardCash transactions, and funneling his proceeds through a network of business and personal bank accounts. (At the time of Mr. Martono’s arrest, the Department of Homeland Security seized millions of dollars from accounts controlled by Mr. Martono.)

CityXGuide, which served clients across the globe, included a list of 14 “Favorite Cities,” including Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, and Boston.

Law enforcement has identified numerous minor victims in CityXGuide advertisements, including a 13-year-old Jane Doe recovered in North Texas in November 2019.

*MORE at Link:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/pr/us-attorney-s-office-shuts-down-website-promoting-prostitution-and-sex-trafficking

[machoneman]

2. Oh! When I read the header, I thought it was about Trumpy and his W.H. follies! No kiddin'!

[Budi]

3. Or the DeVos family trafficking the babies at the border..

So many names come to mind.

IKR !

[Voltaire2]

4. Which will force more sex workers back into street work. nt.