Pornhub owner to pay $1.8 mn to resolve sex trafficking probe in US

Washington, Dec 23: Aylo Holdings (formerly MindGeek), which is the parent company of adult entertainment platform Pornhub, will pay $1.8 million to the US government to resolve a charge of profiting off of sex trafficking.

The company was arraigned on a charge of engaging in unlawful monetary transactions involving sex trafficking proceeds, after entering into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the US Attorney’s Office to resolve the charge.

The DPA provides for the appointment of a monitor for three years and for payments to be made to the US and to individuals adversely affected by the underlying sex trafficking.

According to Aylo’s admissions and court documents, between 2017 and 2019, the company “received money that Aylo knew or should have known was derived from the GirlsDoPorn (GDP) Operators’ sex trafficking operations,” the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said in a statement.

“This deferred prosecution agreement holds the parent company of Pornhub.com accountable for its role in hosting videos and accepting payments from criminal actors who coerced young women into engaging in sexual acts on videos that were posted without their consent,” stated United States Attorney Breon Peace.

“It is our hope that this resolution, which includes certain agreed payments to the women whose images were posted on the company’s platforms and an independent monitorship brings some measure of closure to those negatively affected,” Peace added.

Aylo has also agreed to provide monetary payments to victims of the GDP Operators who have not otherwise already received compensation, and whose images were posted on Aylo’s platforms.

Earlier this week, Pornhub, Stripchat and XVideos were added to a list of platforms subject to the strictest regulation under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA).