SAN FRANCISCO — Eric Omuro, the former operator of MyRedBook.com who plead guilty to charges of facilitating prostitution with the site, must forfeit $1.28 million in cash and two cars, a federal judge ruled.
Yesterday, U.S. District Judge William Orrick signed a preliminary forfeiture order for the property of Omuro, of Mountain View, Calif., who ran the site that hosted prostitute advertising.
MyRedBook.com ads included photos, physical descriptions and menus of sexual services. Omuro also operated SFRedBook.com, as well.
The U.S. seizure includes Omuro’s $1.28 million from 11 bank and savings accounts and an IRA account, as well as a 2011 BMW and a 2012 Mini Cooper.
Orrick’s preliminary order will become final at Omuro's sentencing, scheduled for May 21.
Annmarie Lanoce, of Rocklin, Calif, also plead guilty in connection with facilitating prostitution and is scheduled for sentencing on May 21.
Federal prosecutors said that Omuro and Lanoce were complicit with prostitution involvement, listing acronyms for sex acts in a "terms and acronyms" section of the site and offering menus of sexual services, hourly and nightly rates and customer reviews.
Prosecutors also pointed to VIP memberships that allowed customers "access to 'private forums' and heightened capabilities to search reviews of the prostitution services."
The sites, prior to their seizures by the Justice Department and IRS, purportedly were used by more than 10,000 sex workers when the sites were taken off the Internet.
