Aylo Holdings, the parent company of Pornhub, is set to pay $1.8 million to settle a charge of profiting from sex trafficking.
As announced by the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, the company will enter a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) that involves the appointment of a monitor to oversee Aylo and its compliance efforts for three years.
"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," said Breon Peace, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
"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," FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Smith added.
This photograph taken on May 24, 2022 in Toulouse shows screens displaying a minor child sign and the logo of the pornographic site Pornhub. - The judicial examination of Arcom request against porn sites has been postponed to one month, on May 24, 2022.
Pornhub Parent Company Involvement With GirlsDoPorn
The charges stemmed from Aylo's involvement with GirlsDoPorn (GDP), a network that has been posting videos on Pornhub and other Aylo-owned websites since 2009. The investigation focused on Aylo's receipt of money derived from sex trafficking operations reportedly conducted by GDP.
The GDP Operators, who owned and operated a pornographic production company, were indicted in 2019 for sex trafficking offenses related to deceiving and coercing women into appearing in sex videos posted online without their consent.
In the DPA, Aylo admits to receiving funds between 2017 and 2019 that it knew or should have known were derived from GDP's sex trafficking operations.
Despite being aware of content removal requests and a civil lawsuit filed by women who were deceived and coerced into making adult videos for GDP, Aylo continued to host GDP and GirlsDoToys (GDT) channels on its platforms, including Pornhub.com, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The deferred prosecution agreement requires Aylo to pay $1,844,952.83 to the US. Additionally, the company will provide monetary payments to victims of GDP Operators who have not already received compensation for images posted on Aylo's platforms.
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Aylo Will be Subject to Independent Monitor
Aylo will be subject to an independent monitor for three years to assess the company's compliance with the DPA terms.
The monitor will evaluate various aspects of Aylo's operations, including due diligence protocols for content partners, content screening and monitoring processes, staffing and resources dedicated to addressing illegal content, and disclosures to law enforcement authorities.
Aylo has committed to cooperating fully with the monitor and implementing recommendations made during the monitorship.
The resolution with Aylo was reached considering factors such as the nature and seriousness of the offense, the company's cooperation with the investigation, the removal of GDP and GDT content from its platforms, remedial measures implemented since 2020, and Aylo's commitment to improving its compliance program.
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