Pornhub.com's parent company, Aylo Holdings, was arraigned on charges related to unlawful monetary transactions involving sex trafficking proceeds.
This follows the company's deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.
United States Chief Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom presided over the proceeding.
As part of the agreement, a monitor will be appointed for three years and payments will be made to both the United States and individuals who have been "adversely affected by the underlying sex trafficking," according to a press release. Under the agreement's terms, the company has agreed to pay a fine of $1.84 million.
Unlawful Receipt Of Sex Trafficking Proceeds
Beginning in 2009, Aylo hosted pornographic videos created by GirlsDoPorn (GDP).
However, between 2017 and 2019, Aylo received money that Aylo knew or should have known was derived from the GDP operators' sex trafficking operations, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
In September 2017, Aylo learned that many of the women appearing in the GDP and GDT videos had filed a civil lawsuit in California against the GDP operators alleging that the complainants had been tricked and coerced into filming the adult videos and that the videos were posted on Pornhub.com without their consent.
Between 2016 and 2019, Aylo also received several content removal requests from complainants seeking to remove GDP videos from its websites.
Despite the above, Aylo continued to accept money from its partnership with the GDP operators, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
On or about Oct. 14, 2019, Aylo finally removed the official GDP channel from its platforms. However, the company did not take steps to identify the removal of all unofficial GDP content from its website at that time.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI's New York Field Office.
"Motivated by profit, Aylo Holdings knowingly enriched itself by turning a blind eye to the concerns of victims who communicated to the company that they were deceived and coerced into participating in illicit sexual activity," stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge James Smith.
"Make no mistake, any entity that engages in sexual exploitation will be held to account for the mental anguish and terror imposed on victims," Smith added.
In 2020, Visa Inc. V and Mastercard Incorporated MA cut ties with Pornhub over accusations related to the platform hosting videos of sexual violence and illegal underage content.
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