PHOENIX — Last Friday, a pre-trial hearing was held in a Phoenix federal court regarding the ongoing government lawsuit against former Backpage owners Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin.
Judge Susan Brnovich, of the U.S. District Court for Arizona, heard arguments from the prosecutors wishing to prevent Lacey and Larkin’s defense from accessing data on Backpage’s servers, seized by the government during much-publicized raids in 2018. The raids coincided with the passage of FOSTA legislation.
Judge Brnovich was unconvinced by the prosecution’s arguments. She did not reject the defense motion to access and examine the servers seized in April 2018 and scheduled an evidentiary hearing for October 3.
These are the servers that the government alleges contain evidence that the Backpage business model was set up to facilitate commercial sex activities against the law, particularly concerning the trafficking of minors.
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who launched her national political career on the back of her crusade against the adult classifieds platform, told an interviewer earlier this year that "Backpage was providing advertisement for the sale of children, of minors."
The government was hoping to focus their case on only 50 ads that they claim showed that Lacey and Larkin were actively involved in promoting illegal commercial sex. The defense argued that the voluminous information on the rest of the servers that the government has kept out of their hands since April 2018 contains evidence exonerating their clients.
This information includes what the defense argues is evidence of extensive and long-term cooperation between Backpage and law enforcement, and also with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The case had been returned to the District Court in late July, when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the stay issued by the district court preventing the defense “from litigating the legality of the seizure of Backpage funds,” according to Lacey’s attorney Paul Cambria.
For more of XBIZ’s ongoing coverage of the Backpage case, click here.