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Judge Rejects Pimping Charges Against Escort Services Site

Defendants not liable for third-party content, judge says.

A California judge on Friday tossed out pimping charges against the operators of an international classifieds website offering escort services that the state’s attorney dubbed the “world’s largest online brothel.” Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer and former owners Michael Lacey and James Larkin were hit with pimping charges for their role in maintaining the controversial site, which many have accused of inadvertently helping sex traffickers. Ferrer was arrested in a dramatic raid in Dallas in early October and hit with the charge of pimping a minor. All three men were charged with conspiracy to commit pimping. But Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman on Friday sided with the defendants and ruled that the website was protected from liability for third-party content. Bowman said “the whiff of illegality” on the website was limited to the escorts’ ads themselves. Robert Corn-Revere, the defense for Backpage.com, hailed Bowman’s decision. “Judge Bowman's ruling made clear that the protections of the First Amendment exist for a reason. I suppose that reason is to prevent this kind of abuse of power,” he said.