Table of Contents

1. Goldman Sachs and Backpage
2. Backpage and Florida Massage Parlor Case involving Robert Kraft

The following was brought to my attention by an anon in v/QRV:

WTF?!!! Goldman Sachs Owned a Large Share of the Sex Trafficking Site Backpage.com

Note: The above submission mentions Rachel Chandler, but, neither myself nor the OP have anything to substantiate a direct link between Chandler and Backpage.com; By sharing this, I am not making the claim that such a link exists, but, if anyone can prove beyond doubt that said link does exist, please feel free to provide the info in either submission.

The articles in the above submission, date back as early as 2012 & make full mention of Backpage.com being not only involved in child sex trafficking, but also that Goldman Sachs, through "a private equity fund run by the bank[, GS Capital Partners III]", had financial ties to the site since 2000.

Goldman Sachs and Backpage

dailymail.co.uk - Goldman sex! 'God's bank' offloads shares in firm linked to prostitution after deciding it was 'uncomfortable with direction of the company' | https://archive.is/Zx6mj

^{PUBLISHED: 19:12 EST, 1 April 2012 | UPDATED: 07:42 EST, 3 April 2012}

Goldman Sachs – whose boss once claimed it was ‘doing God’s work’ – has been exposed as investing in a company linked to prostitution and sex trafficking of underage girls.

The revelation plunged the U.S. investment bank into fresh embarrassment over its business ethics weeks after a former executive claimed bosses there called clients ‘muppets’.

It has emerged that a private equity fund run by the bank had taken a major stake in a secretive company called Village Voice Media.

It owns a classified advertising website – Backpage.com – that is accused of being the biggest forum for illegal sex trafficking of underage girls in America.

https://archive.is/Zx6mj/6dcc1c61d55e133b4ac07517fe5df6f485aabbb7.jpg

^{Headquarters: Goldman Sachs, which owns GS Capital Partners III, has signed a deal to sell its 16 per cent stake in Village Voice Media, which owns the website, called Backpage.com}

GS Capital Partners III said it had agreed to sell its 16 per cent stake in the media company, admitting it had lost much of its investment in the process. Goldman Sachs insisted it had grown ‘uncomfortable with the direction of the company’ and its inability to influence its direction.

However New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who exposed the connection, said the bank had been ‘mortified’ when he first inquired about its stake last week and ‘began working frantically to unload its shares’.

Backpage.com is estimated to have a nearly 80 per cent share of online prostitution advertising in the U.S., worth some £2.5million a month.

It also hosts advertising forums in at least a dozen other countries including the UK.~

~Critics including prosecutors, politicians and religious leaders say many of the adverts for so-called escorts are soliciting sex with children, who are sometimes substituted at the point of sale for the adults who have been pictured.

But anti-sex trafficking campaigners have been hampered in their efforts because Village Voice Media is privately owned and doesn’t have to reveal its owners.

Goldman Sachs invested £19million in Village Voice, an alternative New York newspaper, in 2000 and the stake was converted into a 16 per cent minority stake when the publication merged with another media company, New Times Inc, in 2006.

Since then a Goldman managing director, Scott Lebovitz, has had a seat on the board of the new company.~

huffingtonpost.com - Ann Romney Trust Invested In Goldman Sachs Fund That Exited Sex Site Backpage.com | https://archive.is/CCX2i

^{04/03/2012 08:48 am ET | Updated Dec 06, 2017}

A blind trust in the name of Ann Romney, wife of Republican U.S. presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, was an investor in a fund run by Goldman Sachs Group Inc that had invested in a media company which critics say facilitates sex trafficking. While there is no suggestion the Romneys knew about the investment, the disclosure highlights the difficulty for politicians and their families when they invest in blind trusts that are supposed to protect them from conflicts of interest and ethical questions.

According to an August 2011 financial disclosure report by the Romneys, Ann Romney’s blind trust had an investment valued between $15,001 and $50,000 in Goldman’s GS Capital Partners III.

Goldman said on Sunday that GS Capital Partners III signed a deal last Friday to sell its 16 percent stake in Village Voice Media, which owns the website Backpage.com, back to management.~

~The original size and timing of the blind-trust investment were not disclosed, though in 2007 the Ann Romney trust reported during Mitt Romney’s previous failed attempt to get nominated as Republican presidential candidate that its investment in the Goldman fund was then worth between $100,001 and $250,000. In Ann Romney’s 2010 tax return, which was made publicly available in January, the trust’s investment in the Goldman fund was reported as showing a $28,226 loss.

Goldman could not be immediately reached for comment on questions about the Ann Romney trust investment. GS Capital Partners III invested $30 million in the Village Voice in 2000. This was a fraction of fund’s capital, which totaled $2.78 billion.

Discrepancy note: The two articles report differing investment amounts($19 million vs. $30 million), verification needed, but even Goldman Sachs cannot claim that there was no investment.

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Backpage and Florida Massage Parlor Case involving Robert Kraft

If you're unfamiliar with this situation, here is a v/pizzagate submission regarding it:

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft charged as a 'john' in human trafficking/prostitution investigation

^{@Vindicator (or other v/pizzagate owners/moderators/janitors), I hope you don't mind me linking to this. If you'd prefer this submission be moved to v/pizzagatewhatever, just let me know.}

I had a quick dig around when the above submission was posted, whereupon I found and shared the following link between the massage parlors involved and backpage.com:

https://archive.is/3l4Zb

Who was behind them?

Six "major players" have been charged:

• Lanyun Ma, 49, of Orlando: Charged with human trafficking, racketeering, unlawful transportation for the purpose of prostitution, deriving support from proceeds of prostitution and engaging in prostitution. Her bail was set at $155,500.
• Liyan Zhang, 41, of Pompano Beach: Charged with racketeering, operating a house of prostitution and 30 counts of engaging in prostitution. Her bail was set at $115,500.
• Junhua Dong, 50, of Vero Beach: Charged with racketeering, deriving support from proceeds of prostitution and engaging in prostitution. Her bail was set at $250,000.
• Yan Xu, 51, of Sebastian: Charged with racketeering, deriving support from proceeds of prostitution and engaging in prostitution. Her bail was set at $150,500.
• Kenneth Zullo, 64, of Sebastian: Charged with racketeering. His bail was set at $100,000.
• Yaping Ren, 27, of Orlando: Charged with racketeering, deriving support from prostitution and engaging in prostitution. No bail information was available.

Two remain at large:

• Peixia Zhang, 47, of Vero Beach: Wanted on charges of racketeering, deriving support from proceeds of prostitution and engaging in prostitution. Police said she is believed to be on the West Coast.
• Lanfen Ma, 43, of Orlando: Wanted on charges of racketeering, deriving support from proceeds of prostitution and engaging in prostitution. Police said she is believed to be outside the country.

Emphasis added by me:

Zullo also was seen transporting women between the Vero Beach and Sebastian spas and to various other locations, including the Orlando International Airport, according to his arrest warrant.

Detectives placed a tracking device on his vehicle as he walked on the beach one day.

Bank records revealed the spa owners also paid for Backpage.com advertisements.

Backpage was a website for classified personal ads shut down by the federal government in April when its founders were charged with facilitating prostitution and money laundering.

Just a reminder on the subject of child sex trafficking and backpage.com:

https://archive.is/o3XtV

The Senate report found that Backpage.com manually and automatically removed words that indicated the person being advertised was a child, such as “little girl” and “amber alert.” Backpage would then post the sanitized ad, the inquiry found.

The five women who filed the suits said they were minors when they were advertised for sex on Backpage.com. They did not specify how much they were seeking in damages. The cases also name Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer and the company’s controlling shareholders, Michael Lacey and James Larkin as defendants.

Backpage is also the target of criminal action in California, where former Attorney General Kamala Harris filed charges of pimping and money-laundering against Ferrer, Lacey and Larkin.

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