Michael Lacey, who was charged along with six others in a
93-count indictment this week following the seizure and removal
from the internet of Backpage.com, a classified listing website,
and affiliated websites, remained in custody following a
detention hearing in U.S. District Court in Arizona.
But his attorney, Paul Cambria, told Reuters following the
proceedings that U.S. District Court Judge Bridget Bade had
agreed to release him on $1 million bond, with home monitoring,
if financial papers were in order.
Cambria said those arrangements should be in place by Friday,
when Lacey, 69, and attorneys for both sides were expected back
in court.
Prosecutors declined to comment following the hearing but argued
in documents filed ahead of time that Lacey was a significant
flight risk and a danger to the community and should not be
released unless the court imposed stringent release conditions"
that included wearing an ankle monitoring bracelet and providing
a detailed account of his financial holdings.
Lacey was arrested last week after a federal grand jury in
Arizona indicted the former publishing executive for his role in
the operations of the heavily-trafficked website that
authorities said was used primarily to sell sex.
Also charged were Jim Larkin, co-founder of Backpage.com, and a
long-time Lacey associate. He remains in custody.
Prosecutors accuse the Backpage of generating $500 million in
prostitution-related revenue since its 2004 start, and of money
laundering by routing funds through seemingly unrelated
entities, using foreign accounts and converting it into and out
of cryptocurrencies.
Also charged in the indictment were Backpage.com's executive
vice president Scott Spear, chief financial officer John “Jed”
Brunst, sales and marketing director Dan Hyer, operations
manager Andrew Padilla and assistant operations manager Joye
Vaught.
(Reporting by David Schwartz in Phoenix; Editing by Dan Whitcomb
and Sam Holmes)
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