Executives of the adult website Backpage.com – which is the focus of an ongoing investigation by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office – invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination during a congressional hearing this week in Washington, D.C. A U.S. Senate report, released earlier this week, accuses the site of running ads that knowingly facilitate the online trafficking of women and children. Backpage shuttered its “adult” content in the U.S. just hours before the report was issued on Monday.
“Profiting at the expense of countless innocent victims by allowing them to be exploited for modern-day slavery is unacceptable,” Attorney General Paxton said. “I commend the efforts of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations against Backpage to stop these types of despicable ads from causing human misery. My office has worked nonstop investigating this site’s criminal activities, and we will continue to do so until Backpage.com ceases to be a threat.”
Last October, Attorney General Paxton’s office teamed up with its counterparts from California in the arrest of Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer and a raid on the company’s Dallas headquarters. California has filed criminal charges of pimping and money laundering against Backpage, while Texas continues its investigation.
View the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee report on Backpage.com