Rentboy.com CEO, Jeffrey Hurant, has pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution and conspiring to commit money laundering.
On Friday, Hurant accepted a plea deal of no more than two years behind bars and a $10 million fine after a year-long battle with the feds, the New York Daily News reports.
Related: Ex-Rentboy CEO Jeffrey Hurant Nears Plea Deal In Prostitution Sting
The drama began in August 2015 when Rentboy’s New York offices were raided by federal officers. Hurant and six employees were arrested and boxes and boxes of files, computer hard drives, and other company property was confiscated.
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Authorities claimed the site was a poorly-disguised front for an online prostitution ring. On Friday, Hurant admitted this to be true, telling a judge in the Brooklyn Federal Court that he knew the ads on his website were for male sex workers.
Related: Rentboy CEO Breaks Silence, Begs For Help On Facebook
Many have claimed the investigation into Rentboy.com, which claimed to have a database of over 10,000 men in 2,100 cities worldwide, was fueled by deep-seated homophobia, accusing the government of targeting the LGBTQ community.
“It was a completely sketchy, outrageous prosecution in the 21st century,” activist Bill Dobbs said after Friday’s court proceeding. “I presume [Hurant] was backed into a corner by [U.S. Attorney General] Loretta Lynch and company.”
According to the New York Daily News, “Hurant agreed not to appeal the sentence if Federal Judge Margo Brodie gives him two years or less in prison and a fine of $10 million or less.”
Neither Hurant nor his attorney have released a comment.
Tobi
I have no sympathy, he could have easily domiciled Rentboy in Nevada or Amsterdam, in the same way as Rentmen and Rentmasseur operate.
Doughosier
That’s terrible. If consenting adults want to make a business transaction, who gets hurt? The government has no business getting involved!
MarionPaige
“It was a completely sketchy, outrageous prosecution in the 21st century,” activist Bill Dobbs said”
The heavy handed tactics used against Jeffrey Hurant was a prosecution game plan that started with the successful conviction of John Gotti. The Keystone of this game plan is first and foremost: make sure the defendant can’t afford the expert legal counsel of his choosing. The conviction of John Gotti showed how prosecutors can win if they prevent the defendant from having his counsel of choice (Bruce Cutler) and, OJ Simpson showed what happens when a defendant gets his counsel of choice.
Had Gay Media and Gay Activists protested THE STATE using RICO Law against Harlow Cuadra, maybe The Government would have hesitated to make a federal case against Rentboy et. al. The use of RICO Law against a male escort business WAS “a completely sketchy, outrageous prosecution in the 21st century”. It allowed The State to seize all of Cuadra’s assets and it prevented Cuadra and his partner from being able to afford private legal counsel. Sound familia?
There was an important case in New York in which a federal judge dismissed criminal charges against an employee of an accounting firm because prosecutors went to extraordinary lengths to prevent the accounting firm from paying for the employee’s legal expenses.
People seem okay with heavy handed tactics being used against people they think deserve it.
Gay Adult Companies filming in NYC are sitting ducks right now to government and private RICO suits
Uppity
The selective targeting of this company (when many others would also be doing the same thing), suggests that at least one john was influential and high ranking enough for the feds to intervene and avert his exposure.
deloris_soto
I quitt my office-job and now I am getting paid 369$ hourly. How? I work over internet! My old work was making me miserable, so I was forced to try something different, two years after…I can say my life is chaanged-completely for the better! Check it out whaat i do ??
SEE Moree>>>>> >>>>> http://earntoday70.tk/
MarionPaige
@MarionPaige: “Had Gay Media and Gay Activists protested THE STATE using RICO Law against Harlow Cuadra”
think you will find that only the bitchless blog denounced the use of RICO LAW against a male escort business as a heavy handed tactic back in 2007, before similar tactics were used against Rentboy et. al.
ErikO
LOL too funny. He made his bed and his choices. People like this fool Jeffrey Hurant give gay men and LGBT people a bad name.
@Uppity: It’s not selective targeting. Apparently all the sites like this are being shut down and hit with the same charges. I read in the news about how the site backpages is being hit with the same charges.
o.codone
If I remember correctly, his name was Barry Sotero and he charged $200/hr. The nerve! He was all skin and bones, had a bunch of skin tags and for a semi-black guy, there was NOTHING down there worth telling your mother about. hahahha. I’m really JUST KIDDING, I mean I don’t want to slip in the shower later and have a brain hemorrhage or anything. Shit, I’m in trouble now, right? Too late to apologize … ? But I LOVE Michelle and the kids, really I do. Seriously guys, get OFF me.
Jack Meoff
‘Authorities claimed the site was a poorly-disguised front for an online prostitution ring. ‘
How is that disguised poorly or otherwise? How else can you construe a name like rentboy.com?
Lookyloo
–“and boxes and boxes of files, computer hard drives, and other company property was confiscated”–
This was the whole purpose, maybe. Getting those files and drives and RentBoy off line and in “safe hands” —
Remember that this raid happened a week after the Ashley Madison hack info was released. The timing is telling – as is the fact they only targeted RentBoy.
Some closeted international powerbroker(s) probably gave up some serious clout to our Gov’t to get RB offline and their tech gear stored – and therefore keeping any trace of them using the sites services out of the hands of hackers.
(note: I know RB claims no visitor info is stored – but men on the DL for political+financial+physical safety might rather be safe than sorry in their paranoia)
Jezzerat
I would have let him slide on the charges, but thrown the book at him for his hair and eyebrow game.
Kangol
In the 21st century, sex work involving consenting adults of the same or differing genders or sexes should NOT be criminalized, period.
al_eng
I don’t get it. He provided advertising. What adults do with them selves is their deal. And the govt wants to waste time with this BS?