guilty plea rentboy case

Rentboy CEO Pleads Guilty To Promoting Prostitution

Jeffrey Hurant admitted in federal court in Brooklyn that he broke the law by promoting “the exchange of sexual conduct in return for a fee” on his Rentboy.com site.

How this case ever came to be still has many of us scratching our heads.

As we covered back in February, charges against the six former RentBoy employees were offically dropped.

Today, for former Rentboy CEO Jeffrey Hurant, as the Associated Press is reporting, a plea deal has been reached.

NEW YORK (AP) — The chief executive officer of a once-popular male escort website pleaded guilty on Friday to promoting prostitution in a federal case that prompted accusations of anti-gay bias.

jeffrey hurant indicted
Jeffrey Hurant of Rentboy.com, after his August 2015 arraignment in Brooklyn, NY. Photo credit NYTimes)
Jeffrey Hurant admitted in federal court in Brooklyn that he broke the law by promoting “the exchange of sexual conduct in return for a fee” on his Rentboy.com site.

Under a plea deal, Hurant agreed not to appeal a sentence of two years or less in prison. His company also cannot appeal a penalty of $10 million or less. Sentencing guidelines call for a maximum sentence of 21 months.

Hurant, 51, and his attorney left court without speaking to reporters. Sentencing was set for Feb. 2.

Prosecutors had alleged that Rentboy was the equivalent of an online brothel, and what the site called escorts were actually prostitutes. They said part of the proof were in the explicit ads that featured nude photos, listings of all manner of physical attributes and pricing options ranging from $150 an hour to $3,500 for a weekend.

Protesters point to the health and safety downside of criminalizing sex work in reaction to the RentBoy.Com Case. Photo credit @Donna Aceto DONNA ACETO
Protesters point to the health and safety downside of criminalizing sex work in reaction to the RentBoy.Com Case. Photo credit @Donna Aceto
The takedown of the website was led by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Its involvement, along with an absence of any allegations that Rentboy was a menace to society beyond simple prostitution — like engaging in human trafficking or exploiting minors — stirred anger and fear in the gay community. Activists questioned why the agency would single out Rentboy when other escort websites, gay or straight, continue to do business.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which participated in the investigation along with the New York Police Department and other agencies, issued a statement saying “any insinuation that a specific population was targeted is categorically false.”

Before authorities arrested Hurant and seized the Rentboy site, it had thousands of advertisers paying up to $300 a month, 500,000 visitors a day and revenues of $10 million in the past five years.

The business hosted parties and an annual awards show for escorts called the Hookies. In interviews, Hurant insisted “there is no place on this website where somebody says I’ll have sex for money because that is against the law,” but also boasted about wanting “to keep the oldest profession in the world up to date with all the latest technology.”

 
Timing is everything. As we also reported today on our Stall Wall with the “Pimping No More” link, Carl Ferrer, the CEO of Backpage.com was arrested today. Backpage is infamous for its escort ads. However, the charges here are much more serious than being labeled an “online brothel.” They are accused of “pimping children and other counts” including underage sex trafficking according to the NY Times. This may, unfortunately, conflate the cases which are only similar on the surface. However, at least the Feds aren’t limiting action to only gay sites.

The Sword will continue to follow the story. Whatever the final judgment that is rendered on February 2nd, we hope the terms of the deal will allow Jeffrey Hurant to get on with his life. Watch this blog.

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