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rentboy office raided

Kevin Slater

By Kevin Slater
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Nebost Collaborator

Nebost

Posted
Posted
"Putting up profiles costs escorts $59.95 to $299.95 a month." The NY Times says the criminal complaint states "$10 million in sales since 2010."

 

Rentboy went mainstream long ago, and it seems its owner, Jeffrey Hurant, didn't care much about the word discretion. He flaunted his creation, and he made a ton of money off the backs of hard working escorts.

 

It looks like some of the money has been seized from six bank accounts. The lives of those arrested will never be the same.

 

Sex for money will never go away, and I'm happy about that. I think escorts deserve a better business model and better treatment.

 

If the price charged wasn't worth it, why did so many escorts choose to pay it? There are plenty of alternatives (Rentmen,M4RN, backpage, grinder) available, yet this most expensive site is the most favored by escorts. That to me says they got something for their money (as opposed to having gouged and mistreated his customers) He made 10 million in in 6 years , that pays for a staff (beyond the 6), the office, various fees, a lawyer etc...it may have been a decent living , but certainly no Leona Helmsley lifestyle.

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BaronArtz Grand Master

BaronArtz

Posted
Posted

What happened to the 'innocent until proven guilty' concept? It looks like the rentboy.com website was shut down, which effectively shuts down the company's business. Is that even legal?

edjames Mentor

edjames

Posted
Posted

Nobody does it better than the NY Post:

 

FEDS RAID WORLD'S LARGEST GAY PROSTITUTION OUTFIT ON FIFTH AVENUE

 

The world’s largest gay-prostitution Web site was taken down in Manhattan on Tuesday by federal agents and the NYPD.

 

RentBoy.com — which claims 10,500 “escorts” in 2,100 cities worldwide — offered its 2,500 paid subscribers access to men willing to provide a variety of sexual services, according to feds.

 

“RentBoy.com attempted to present a veneer of legality, when in fact this Internet brothel made millions of dollars from the promotion of illegal prostitution,” said acting Brooklyn US Attorney Kelly T. Currie.

 

Modal Triggeruntitled-51.jpg?w=300&h=200

Rentboy.comPhoto: Rentboy.com

 

The company had been operating for at least a year from inside a nondescript building at 6 W. 14th St., a block from Union Square.

 

Seven people — including CEO Jeffrey Hurant, alleged escorts and other staffers — were busted during the 9 a.m. raid at the HQ and other locations the feds would not disclose, and $1.4 million was seized from bank accounts linked to the service.

 

Modal Triggerusa-crime_rentboy.jpg?w=300&h=200

Officers take evidence from the Manhattan offices of Rentboy.com in NYC.Photo: Reuters

 

The company’s Twitter page says, “Money can’t buy you love but everything else is negotiable,” and Hurant’s Twitter handle is @thecyberpimp.

 

Sources say the feds became aware of the high-profile site and sent one or more undercover agents to investigate.

 

Prosecutors charge RentBoy made $10 million between 2010 and 2015 by charging escorts to advertise on the site and then hitting up customers for more cash to gain access to the escorts.

 

Clients could match their specific fantasies and were invited to a separate site daddysreviews.com that contained “explicit reviews” for their performances.

 

One of the alleged escorts busted, Edward Estanol, 23, advertised his “in and out” rate as $300 an hour, an overnight rate of $1,400 and a weekend rate as $3,000, according to the complaint.

 

Hurant, 50, and the five others — Michael Belman, 47; Clint Calero, 48; Estanol; Shane Lukas, 41; Marco Dekker, 28; and Diana Mattos, 43 — were all charged with conspiring to violate the Travel Act by promoting prostitution across state lines.

 

All but Lukas, who was arrested in South Dakota and will be arraigned later, were freed after posting bond. If convicted, each faces up to five years behind bars and a fine of up to $250,000.

 

Outside court, Hurant defended his business.

 

“For 20 years we’ve been doing this and I don’t think we’re doing anything criminal or to promote prostitution,” Hurant said. “I think we do good things for good people and I hope justice will be done.”

 

http://nypost.com/2015/08/25/massive-gay-prostitution-website-rentboy-busted-by-feds/

Tom Isern Rising Star

+ Tom Isern

Posted
Posted
"He took Down his Facebook page and he's "brave?" Lol"

+ 1

 

Bozo

there may be legal reasons why a brave person might take down a facebook page... bravery and stupidity are not the same thing.

edjames Mentor

edjames

Posted
Posted

NYTimes reports...

"A separate website, DaddysReviews.com, “contains explicit reviews of the escorts written by previous customers,” the complaint says."

 

7 Charged With Promoting Prostitution by Working on Rentboy.com, an Escort Website

 

 

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORDAUG. 25, 2015

 

Photo

http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/08/26/nyregion/RENTBOY/RENTBOY-master675.jpg

Jeffrey Hurant of Rentboy.com, after his arraignment in Brooklyn on Tuesday, said the site brought “good people together.” CreditKevin Hagen for The New York Times

  • The terms of service on the website Rentboy.com said that people could not use it to exchange money for sex. But federal authorities, who called it the largest online male-escort service and arrested the site’s chief executive and several other employees on Tuesday, said that was exactly what was happening.
     
    The chief executive, Jeffrey Hurant, 50, and six other current or former employees appeared in Federal District Court in Brooklyn on Tuesday afternoon on charges of promoting prostitution.
     
    Although the site, founded in 1997, required visitors to accept the terms of service, the criminal complaint said visitors would arrive at a home page stocked with escorts’ profiles listing sexual services and fees. Escorts pay to post the profiles, and the site’s visitors contact them directly to arrange meetings.
     
    The site, whose headquarters are on 14th Street at Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, has had $10 million in sales since 2010, the criminal complaint says.
     
    “As alleged, Rentboy.com attempted to present a veneer of legality, when in fact this Internet brothel made millions of dollars from the promotion of illegal prostitution,” Kelly T. Currie, acting United States attorney for New York’s Eastern District, said in a statement.
     
    Photo
    http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/08/26/nyregion/RENTBOY-2/RENTBOY-2-articleLarge.jpg
    Michael Sean Belman, the director of the website, is among those charged.CreditKevin Hagen for The New York Times
    Charles Hochbaum, the lawyer for Mr. Hurant, said outside court that the case represented a First Amendment issue.
     
    “My client advertises for people who are willing to be escorts, to accompany people for their time and be paid,” he said.
     
    “He’s upset and confused about how this legitimate business could become the subject of a Homeland Security investigation,” he said. The Homeland Security Investigations arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement was involved in the investigation, apparently because it believed the site promoted prostitution across state and national borders.
     
    “I don’t think we do anything to promote prostitution,” Mr. Hurant said. “I think we do good things for good people, and bring good people together.”
     
    Putting up profiles costs escorts $59.95 to $299.95 a month, depending on how visible the ads are, according to the complaint. Website members then contact them.
     
    Escorts list “primary interests,” ranging from “vanilla” (“nice and clean”) to leather to role play to other fetishes. “A user can filter by a number of categories,” from primary interests to preferred sexual position, the complaint says. There are also fields for the escort’s pay rates, the complaint says, including overnight and weekend rates.
     
    A separate website, DaddysReviews.com, “contains explicit reviews of the escorts written by previous customers,” the complaint says.
     
    In one profile quoted in the complaint, an escort in Manhattan advertising as Ryan Raz said, “I have a very innocent shy mid-west look, but once you get me behind closed doors it’s an amazing experience.” He charged $300 per hour for a standard visit.
     
    Photo
    http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/08/26/nyregion/RENTBOY-3/RENTBOY-3-articleLarge.jpg
    Diana Milagros Mattos is a former saleswoman for Rentboy.com who, the authorities say, referred to herself on Twitter as the "escort whisperer."CreditKevin Hagen for The New York Times
    Some of the complaint details “the Hookies,” or the International Escort Awards, which the website holds each year. The site’s marketing banter for the awards described them as “covering all aspects of the oldest profession as presented in the newest media,” according to the complaint.
     
    At the 2015 Hookies, held this year at a West 42nd Street hotel, an undercover agent approached Mr. Hurant, who gave the agent a business card with the email address [email protected] on it and explained that the Hookies were about celebrating sex “so good, you had to tell someone.”
     
    One of the other six defendants is Michael Sean Belman, 47, the director of the site. According to the complaint, Mr. Belman has given interviews indicating that he knows the escorts are offering sex, such as describing the Hookies winners as “sexual therapists.”
     
    Another of those arrested was Edward Lorenz Estanol, 23, an escort, Hookies award nominee and former social-media coordinator for the site. He charged $300 an hour, or $3,000 for a weekend, the complaint says. On his personal website, he wrote that “escorting is a great way to explore your sexuality and get paid doing it,” the complaint says.
     
    Another is Diana Milagros Mattos, 43, a former saleswoman, who had “a Twitter account in which she identified herself as the ‘escort whisperer’ ” while she worked at Rentboy.com, the complaint says, and tried to help escorts increase their social-media presence so they would get more clients.
     
    The others are Shane Lukas, 41, chief operating officer; Clint Calero, 48, a sales executive; and Marco Soto Decker, 28, an accountant for the site. (The complaint says that Mr. Decker is currently employed by the site, but his lawyer, Joel S. Cohen, said he now worked at a different business.)
     
    All of the defendants except for Mr. Lukas made their initial appearances in Federal District Court on Tuesday and were released on bonds ranging from $50,000 each for Ms. Mattos, Mr. Estanol and Mr. Calero to $350,000 for Mr. Hurant. Mr. Lukas was arrested and made his initial appearance in South Dakota.
     
    Lawyers for Ms. Mattos and Mr. Estanol declined to comment. A lawyer for Mr. Belman, Anthony Ricco, also raised the First Amendment issue, and a lawyer for Mr. Calero said he agreed. A lawyer for Mr. Lukas could not immediately be reached. All the defendants were listed as New York City residents.
     
    Conviction carries a maximum penalty for each defendant of five years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000. The government said Tuesday morning that it was trying to seize the domain rentboy.com, which was not loading as of Tuesday afternoon.
     

Dave Community Regular

Dave

Posted
Posted

What a shit day it was yesterday.

 

- Three of my friends were arrested.

- I'm with a client in his mountain home with sketchy internet and bad phone service, trying to deal with Hawk in South Dakota, activist groups like SWOP/NYC, SWANK, Woodhull Foundation, NCSF, and Desiree Alliance, and some media like Huffington Post and others.

- Did I mention I'm with a client? He's been largely ignored through all of this - although he just admitted to me that he's grateful I'm here with him, so we could talk it over (claiming it's helped keep him calm).

- Then last night, when we got into bed, guess who was not interested in sex, at all. I get that way when I'm down, which happened last year at one extremely horrible point, and about six years before that, when I had to put my dog to sleep. Anyway - we're back in that department... as of the middle of the night ;)

 

So while I'm still very distraught for Hawk and Coco and Clint, and Sean and the others - I am wondering if this might be a turning point for escorts and the entire sex work industry. I'm wondering if, because this is happening to Rentboy and affecting men (as opposed to an issue with EROS, or Backpage's recent VISA denials), a male-driven activism could turn this another way - with men speaking out, having greater involvement in SWOP and their local chapters, and letting the world know

. Male activists involved in the sex work industry have been disproportionately low, but now that so many of us could be financially affected, I'd like to hope that more men would be willing to step up to the plate and fight this old, tired view of prostitution. Because of Rentboy’s successful merging of porn and escorting, I’m wondering if this might be a true coming together of male porn performers and male escorts. I’m wondering if this gets fought as a first amendment issue and succeeds, we might find ourselves in a BETTER place, where the hiring of escorts is more accepted. Because of Amnesty International’s statement a few weeks ago, I wonder if these two recent events (Amnesty and Rentboy) might be the true catalyst for the beginning of change. Dare I wonder for true decriminalization of sex work? FUCK, YEAH!
gallahadesquire Grand Master

gallahadesquire

Posted
Posted
What a shit day it was yesterday.

 

- Three of my friends were arrested.

- I'm with a client in his mountain home with sketchy internet and bad phone service, trying to deal with Hawk in South Dakota, activist groups like SWOP/NYC, SWANK, Woodhull Foundation, NCSF, and Desiree Alliance, and some media like Huffington Post and others.

- Did I mention I'm with a client? He's been largely ignored through all of this - although he just admitted to me that he's grateful I'm here with him, so we could talk it over (claiming it's helped keep him calm).

- Then last night, when we got into bed, guess who was not interested in sex, at all. I get that way when I'm down, which happened last year at one extremely horrible point, and about six years before that, when I had to put my dog to sleep. Anyway - we're back in that department... as of the middle of the night ;)

 

So while I'm still very distraught for Hawk and Coco and Clint, and Sean and the others - I am wondering if this might be a turning point for escorts and the entire sex work industry. I'm wondering if, because this is happening to Rentboy and affecting men (as opposed to an issue with EROS, or Backpage's recent VISA denials), a male-driven activism could turn this another way - with men speaking out, having greater involvement in SWOP and their local chapters, and letting the world know

. Male activists involved in the sex work industry have been disproportionately low, but now that so many of us could be financially affected, I'd like to hope that more men would be willing to step up to the plate and fight this old, tired view of prostitution. Because of Rentboy’s successful merging of porn and escorting, I’m wondering if this might be a true coming together of male porn performers and male escorts. I’m wondering if this gets fought as a first amendment issue and succeeds, we might find ourselves in a BETTER place, where the hiring of escorts is more accepted. Because of Amnesty International’s statement a few weeks ago, I wonder if these two recent events (Amnesty and Rentboy) might be the true catalyst for the beginning of change. Dare I wonder for true decriminalization of sex work? FUCK, YEAH!

 

Well spoken! HEAR, HEAR!

Lankypeters Proficient

Lankypeters

Posted
Posted

Doesn't what you do with an escort come under the protection of privacy? That is, if questioned by an authority about what happened between you and a working guy, can you just say the matter is private? And is the burden of proof on the prosecution?

Tom Isern Rising Star

+ Tom Isern

Posted
Posted

this might be a good time to reach out in support and concern to people you care about who may be at risk of getting wrapped up in this whole thing. a lot of people have good reason to be on edge with this, and I know I've greatly appreciated the people who have reached out to me, even if it was just to ask "are you okay?"

Gar1eth Grand Master

+ Gar1eth

Posted
Posted
I give it about 8 yrs before eacorting is legal. It'll be tried in the various courts and will need to heard by the supreme court I would imagine.

 

Hugs,

Greg

 

I think we are too Puritanical of a society to legalize. I mean we don't even have a national law that prevents us (gays) from being fired or thrown out of rental situation in 31 states. A city ordinance for equality in Houston, our 4th largest city, is being vigorously protested. I don't think when we can't even obtain what should be a no-brainer (non discrimination) for everyday life that we as a country are going to legalize prostitution.

 

Gman

rocky Experienced

rocky

Posted
Posted

We may want to lead ourselves to believe what an injustice or conspiracy this is but let's face it, it isn't exactly a Time Magazine Advertisement thing. And I'm sure no one of us, knows the details behind the financials.

rocky Experienced

rocky

Posted
Posted

I've been a fan of rentboy; men4rentnow; and others; but let's face it, those venues as well as this

can be subject to review by federal agencies at any time. And freedoms we thought we had, aren't

seen that way by those who should be spending time elsewhere

js515679 Newbie

js515679

Posted
Posted

This is good advice. Also, everyone needs to understand something about the right to remain silent.

 

The prosecution always has the burden of proof in any criminal case. It is also true that you have a right not to answer questions from investigators and prosecutors. However, you can only take advantage of that right, guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment, if you invoke it specifically. That is to say, under the Supreme Court's recent caselaw, it is not enough to simply not answer questions from officials, and to remain silent. That silence can, in fact, later be used against you in court. You must claim the right by at a minimum saying "I am invoking my Fifth Amendment right to remain silent."

 

In addition, under no circumstances should anyone who is being questioned by investigators lie, and lie here is broadly defined. If you are asked "do you know anything about this?" you cannot say "no" if you actually do know something. If you are being questioned by a federal investigator, such a response would violate 18 U.S.C. 1001, which would be far more serious than any solicitation charge. To invoke your rights here, you need to say "I am not going to answer any questions and I am invoking my Fifth Amendment right to silence." In addition, if you are actually being arrested, you must also specifically request to speak with an attorney. You should get a Miranda warning, but you have to invoke the right. So, again, to invoke your rights the response is, "yes, I understand these rights. I would like to speak with an attorney and I am invoking my Fifth Amendment right to be silent."

 

Moreover, also keep in mind, that any statements made to the media, posted on websites, or communicated in any other way to anyone but your lawyer can be used against you later in court. There is a specific exception to the rule against admitting hearsay for "statements made against interest." That is, if you say something that incriminates yourself, you can't use the hearsay rule to keep it out at trial.

WmClarke Mentor

+ WmClarke

Posted
Posted
This is good advice. Also, everyone needs to understand something about the right to remain silent.

 

The prosecution always has the burden of proof in any criminal case. It is also true that you have a right not to answer questions from investigators and prosecutors. However, you can only take advantage of that right, guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment, if you invoke it specifically. That is to say, under the Supreme Court's recent caselaw, it is not enough to simply not answer questions from officials, and to remain silent. That silence can, in fact, later be used against you in court. You must claim the right by at a minimum saying "I am invoking my Fifth Amendment right to remain silent."

 

In addition, under no circumstances should anyone who is being questioned by investigators lie, and lie here is broadly defined. If you are asked "do you know anything about this?" you cannot say "no" if you actually do know something. If you are being questioned by a federal investigator, such a response would violate 18 U.S.C. 1001, which would be far more serious than any solicitation charge. To invoke your rights here, you need to say "I am not going to answer any questions and I am invoking my Fifth Amendment right to silence." In addition, if you are actually being arrested, you must also specifically request to speak with an attorney. You should get a Miranda warning, but you have to invoke the right. So, again, to invoke your rights the response is, "yes, I understand these rights. I would like to speak with an attorney and I am invoking my Fifth Amendment right to be silent."

 

Moreover, also keep in mind, that any statements made to the media, posted on websites, or communicated in any other way to anyone but your lawyer can be used against you later in court. There is a specific exception to the rule against admitting hearsay for "statements made against interest." That is, if you say something that incriminates yourself, you can't use the hearsay rule to keep it out at trial.

Sounds like good advice. Are you a lawyer?

Tom Isern Rising Star

+ Tom Isern

Posted
Posted
Sounds like good advice. Are you a lawyer?

 

JVB is great. Savage drives me nuts when he says incredibly stupid things like "marriage is whatever you make of it." no, Dan, marriage is a legal structure that carries normative expectations. best press commentary yet:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-rentboy-raid-is-about-way-more-than-just-sex-work_55ddb6fae4b04ae497051463

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