Backpage’s Michael Lacey Gets 5-Year Sentence
Backpage sentence handed down: Yesterday, Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey was sentenced to 60 months in prison. Lacey, who has been dragged through this legal ordeal for years (an ordeal which contributed to the suicide of his longtime partner/co-founder, Jim Larkin), was found guilty last fall of one count of international concealment of money laundering. Lacey and Larkin long ago began to attract the scrutiny—and worse—of federal prosecutors for their roles in running the classified ad site, Backpage, which prostitutes used to advertise their services.
“This is not a case where the defendant went off on his own to hide an asset,” wrote Lacey’s lawyers. “Instead, in the years that preceded the international wire transfer at issue, federal law enforcement officers had visited his banks and suggested to those banks that it would be bad for their reputation to have him as a client, which then resulted in the banks terminating their relationship with him. This occurred when there were no charges pending.”
After being denied access to the U.S. banking system, turning elsewhere seems like rational behavior—and it was behavior his whole legal team was aware of, Lacey’s lawyers claim. “The entire transaction was papered and executed by counsel. Michael did not hide anything from his counsel, explaining to them that the funds at issue were from the sale of Backpage. As his counsel, [John] Becker, explained at trial, he believed and still believes the transaction to be fully lawful. There was no intent to conceal, and no actual concealment, but rather, an intent to disclose and actual disclosure.”
Big picture: For their part, prosecutors say that Lacey and the others who created and maintained Backpage “made a calculated decision to pursue a livelihood built on prostitution ads, and maintained that path, year after year, supporting a succession of criminal users of their website.” They charged Lacey with 85 total counts, including “using Backpage to knowingly facilitate prostitution, in violation of the U.S. Travel Act.” Lacey maintains that Backpage was protected by the First Amendment.
The prosecutors in this case “helped create a playbook for suppressing online speech, debanking disfavored groups, and using ‘conspiracy’ charges to imprison the government’s targets,” wrote Elizabeth Nolan Brown, who has been following this case for years, in an article from April. (Note Kamala Harris’ starring role.)
That it has now culminated in five years in prison for an elderly man who has already lost so much as a result of the federal government’s persecution comes as no surprise.
The jury was hung on 84 count & a judge later dismissed many of these. But prosecutors plan to try Lacey again on the unresolved counts… which involve actions they urge the judge *this time* to consider at sentencing
So Lacey could wind up sentenced TWICE for the same activity
— Elizabeth Nolan Brown (@ENBrown) August 27, 2024
“Flight by suicide”. Consider the sickness and evil of any mind which could not only voice such a phrase aloud in court, but also demand it prevented lest the intended victims escape the State’s torture. The depth of depravity to which these prosecutors have sunk is nauseating. https://t.co/TUe0sdDzrX
— Maggie M
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