The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Feds Raid ‘Rentboy’ Site

Posted on | August 26, 2015 | 65 Comments

While the hack of the adultery site AshleyMadison-dot-com was making headlines, the FBI was investigating a male escort site:

A criminal complaint was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging the CEO of Rentboy.com, Jeffrey Hurant, and six Rentboy.com employees with conspiring to violate the Travel Act by promoting prostitution. . . .
As alleged in the complaint, Rentboy.com is a male escort advertising site founded in 1997 which hosts thousands of paid advertisements. While the site has disclaimers stating that the advertisements are for companionship and not sexual services, Rentboy.com is designed primarily for advertising illegal prostitution. The website charges subscribers a minimum monthly fee of $59.95 and up to several hundred dollars to advertise sexual services.. . . Between 2010 and 2015, Rentboy.com had over $10 million in gross proceeds.
“As alleged, Rentboy.com attempted to present a veneer of legality, when in fact this internet brothel made millions of dollars from the promotion of illegal prostitution,” stated Acting United States Attorney Currie. Mr. Currie thanked the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Field Office in New York, and the District Attorney’s Office for New York County for their assistance in the investigation.

The New York Times reports:

The chief executive, Jeffrey Hurant, 50, and six other current or former employees appeared in Federal District Court in Brooklyn on Tuesday afternoon on charges of promoting prostitution. . . .
Charles Hochbaum, the lawyer for Mr. Hurant, said outside court that the case represented a First Amendment issue.
“My client advertises for people who are willing to be escorts, to accompany people for their time and be paid,” he said.
“He’s upset and confused about how this legitimate business could become the subject of a Homeland Security investigation,” he said. The Homeland Security Investigations arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement was involved in the investigation, apparently because it believed the site promoted prostitution across state and national borders.
“I don’t think we do anything to promote prostitution,” Mr. Hurant said. “I think we do good things for good people, and bring good people together.” . . .
Some of the complaint details “the Hookies,” or the International Escort Awards, which the website holds each year. The site’s marketing banter for the awards described them as “covering all aspects of the oldest profession as presented in the newest media,” according to the complaint.
At the 2015 Hookies, held this year at a West 42nd Street hotel, an undercover agent approached Mr. Hurant, who gave the agent a business card with the email address cyberpimp@rentboy.com on it and explained that the Hookies were about celebrating sex “so good, you had to tell someone.” . . .
Another of those arrested was Edward Lorenz Estanol, 23, an escort, Hookies award nominee and former social-media coordinator for the site. He charged $300 an hour, or $3,000 for a weekend, the complaint says. On his personal website, he wrote that “escorting is a great way to explore your sexuality and get paid doing it,” the complaint says.
Another is Diana Milagros Mattos, 43, a former saleswoman, who had “a Twitter account in which she identified herself as the ‘escort whisperer’” while she worked at Rentboy.com, the complaint says, and tried to help escorts increase their social-media presence so they would get more clients.

Despite my large “social-media presence,” I haven’t made $10 million blogging since 2010. Maybe I should change my slogan to “Blogs So Good, You Had to Tell Someone.”

 

Category: Crime, Gays

Comments

65 Responses to “Feds Raid ‘Rentboy’ Site”

  1. Son of Liberty
    August 26th, 2015 @ 7:07 pm

    Hardware the military does not want or need is usually scrapped or given as a hand-me-down. The police buy military bastard hardware for the cost to transport them from the armory to the police department.

    Budgets are not the sole factor. Attitude has a lot to do with it too. A lot of police have an “us versus them” attitude that is contrary to the original belief that they serve the public, rather than the other way around.

  2. Son of Liberty
    August 26th, 2015 @ 7:45 pm

    As Robert Heinlein said, humanity does not divide between left and right. It divides between those who want to control others, and those who have no such desire.

  3. Art Deco
    August 26th, 2015 @ 11:11 pm

    I suspect attacking the age of consent is next on the agenda. The tricky part will be to persuade the courts to invent an excuse to do this for male-to-male and female-to-female molestations while continuing to prosecute male-on-female molestations. My guess is that it will be very under the table with DAs refusing to prosecute anything but these last.

  4. Daniel Freeman
    August 27th, 2015 @ 12:29 am

    On second thought, knowing SJWs, they’ll probably just use a shotgun strategy and pursue whichever one gets traction first. That would probably be polygamy in the courts, since it would seem to follow directly from the same reasoning as the Obergefell decision.

  5. The original Mr. X
    August 27th, 2015 @ 6:15 pm

    Maybe I’m just being slow here, but how can something be “destructive” without also causing harm?

  6. Prime Director
    August 28th, 2015 @ 1:33 am

    the items to be exchanged have to possess some intrinsic-ish utility-esque-ness in order to be “goods”, right? We’re not talkin dog-shit, here; it has to be reasonAbly youknowriGHT USEFUL or atleast not harmful like pollution whi h is more of a “bad” thanagood. YesThere is a class of economic goods called “bads”

  7. theoldsargesays
    August 28th, 2015 @ 8:21 pm

    And the internet, don’t forget the internet.
    It was invented so that people everywhere could enjoy access to pornography- even those who were not fortunate enough to live in areas where they could just walk down the block to their local porno shop.

    Al Gore was a hell of a guy.

  8. theoldsargesays
    August 28th, 2015 @ 8:23 pm

    Happens every day.
    :-

  9. theoldsargesays
    August 28th, 2015 @ 8:28 pm

    Sorry I clicked the wrong reply box.

  10. theoldsargesays
    August 28th, 2015 @ 8:29 pm

    Crikey Durasim!
    Trigger warning next time please?
    I was expecting Nicole Kidman or Naomi Watts and instead got….just trigger warning next time please.

  11. theoldsargesays
    August 28th, 2015 @ 8:34 pm

    Grants Monies taken from taxpayers and sent out of their home jurisdictions to other local law enforcement by DHS are somewhat north of $2 bn.

    (Fixed that. That word gets under my skin.)

  12. Son of Liberty
    August 28th, 2015 @ 8:43 pm

    The political process and activities between two consenting adults are two different things. The political process affects everyone. What goes on between a couple — straight or gay — does not.

    If someone wants to sell their body, that should their choice and the consequences are theirs alone.

  13. Wombat_socho
    August 29th, 2015 @ 4:01 am

    I suspect this is the actual reason for the bust. Somebody didn’t fork over the protection money to the DNC.

  14. Wombat_socho
    August 29th, 2015 @ 4:02 am

    Yes, since we instituted laws against rape, murder and tax evasion, nobody does those any more! Oh, wait…

  15. Delaney Coffer
    September 1st, 2015 @ 9:44 pm

    So repeal all of those prohibitions you just mentioned? Are you able to understand what you’re putting forth? There are places where these things are legal, after all. They happen more in those places.