Prosecutors in Texas announced Friday that they have taken down one of the largest websites to replace Backpage. On Thursday, Wilhan Martono, 46, the owner and operator of several illicit websites that advertised prostitution around the world, was arrested on sex trafficking, money laundering and other related charges.
His sites โ CityXGuide. The online platforms he created contained hundreds of thousands of posts for "intimate activities" that users could filter by their location and interests.
During the investigation, law enforcement officers discovered correspondence between Martono and an advertiser who said the website was "taking over from where Backpage left off. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox in a statement.
The Justice Department will not rest until these sites are eliminated and their owners held accountable for their crimes. Posts on Martono's websites included the trafficking of "numerous" minor victims, including a year-old Jane Doe whom law enforcement recovered in North Texas in November She was advertised on CityXGuide.
Shortly after Martono's arrest, the Department of Homeland Security took down the website, replacing it with a page that said it had "been seized by the Department of Homeland Security," prosecutors said. All 14 cities ban prostitution, so Martono would try to cover up the money trail by using bitcoin or a third-party gift card reseller called CardCash. Advertisers would pay in gift cards from places like BestBuy, Walmart, Amazon, Lowes and others, and he then exchanged them, funneling the money into personal bank accounts.
