As Pressure Mounted, Backpage Doubled Down On Its Shameless Villainy

It’s no secret Backpage flaunted local, state, and federal laws at every turn. Despite multiple pleas to cease and desist which the Backpage sex trafficking operation received from child advocacy groups and continued warnings from police departments across the country, the shadowy organization nonetheless persisted in its wanton abuses.

Court records show that on October 7, 2015, Backpage’s Manager of Operations, Andrew Padilla, received an email from another Backpage employee (which was later forwarded to Joye Vaught) disclosing that there were “ massive _numbers of live ads with banned terms and pictures out on the site._”

Tony Ortega Backpage Apologist

The employees knew their bosses were breaking the law. Tony Ortega knew his bosses were breaking the law. The perpetrators themselves certainly understood they were in direct violation of strict sex trafficking regulations. Yet they continued to lie, obstruct and deny.

Reams of undeniable evidence, however, were mounting, and it didn’t take long for news organizations to catch wind of what Backpage employees like Tony Ortega had long understood — they were involved in a massive conspiracy to traffic women and young girls to perverts online.

In December of that year, Backpage received an email from a reporter in Canada stating as much, in a blunt message which read in part:

“Of the 359 sex trafficking incidents Toronto Police have been involved in since 2013, every single girl that was rescued was advertised on Backpage..Why hasn’t Backpage closed down the adult escort ads portion of its site like Craigslist when it’s known that underage girls are being exploited via Backpage?”

Still, Backpage refused to take action to stop their criminal activity.

In or around January 2016, court documents show that an unnamed corporate entity known as “Company A” was retained to serve as a payment processor for some of Backpage’s websites. On April 29, 2016, “Company A” informed Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer that it had conducted “ _a review of your website, and unfortunately we had to suspend your account … [because] advertising of illegal activities is strictly forbidden._”

By this point, however, Backpage had made clear that no amount of warnings or second chances would cause them to rethink their business model.

In fact, as we shall see in our next installment, the increased pressure being brought to bear on their illicit child sex-for-pay scheme only encouraged them to double down and ramp up their shameless villainy.