Michael Lacey, co-founder of Backpage.com, was found guilty of one count of international concealment money laundering, while being spared convictions for facilitating prostitution. This verdict followed a trial where a jury deliberated for over a week on 100 felony counts against five defendants.

Backpage.com and Legal Proceedings

Lacey, known as the founder and former editor of the Phoenix New Times, faced charges including conspiracy, money laundering, and violating the federal Travel Act by facilitating prostitution. The jury returned no verdict on 84 of the 86 counts against Lacey, including conspiracy and facilitating prostitution. He was found not guilty on one count of international promotional money laundering.

The conviction for international concealment money laundering carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Other former Backpage executives faced different outcomes. Scott Spear, former executive vice president, was found guilty of conspiracy, 18 prostitution counts, and 23 money laundering counts. John Brunst, former chief financial officer, was found guilty of conspiracy and 31 counts of money laundering. Spear and Brunst could face up to five years in prison for the conspiracy conviction and up to 20 years for each money laundering conviction. Spear could also face an additional five years for each of his 18 prostitution convictions.

Backpage.com, co-founded by Lacey and Jim Larkin in 2004 with ad executive Carl Ferrer, was created as a competitor to Craigslist. By 2015, when Ferrer purchased Backpage from Lacey and Larkin in a seller-financed deal, the site was under scrutiny from state Attorneys General and various NGOs due to listings in its adult ad section. Critics accused Backpage of promoting prostitution.

The Legacy of Lacey and Larkin

Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin were prominent figures in the alternative newspaper industry. Larkin, born on June 16, 1949, in Omaha, Nebraska, and who died on July 31, 2023, in Superior, Arizona, at the age of 74, was a publisher and journalist. He was known for his work with the Phoenix New Times, also known as New Times Inc., alongside Lacey. Larkin was responsible for the business side, while Lacey managed editorial operations.

The two men expanded the Phoenix New Times from a small, college-based publication into an industry entity valued at $400 million. Lacey, who came of age in Newark, New Jersey, moved west in the late 1960s to attend Arizona State University. He dropped out in 1970 and, with two students, published the first issue of Phoenix New Times as a response to local media coverage of campus antiwar protests. Two years later, Lacey partnered with Larkin, also an ASU dropout, to develop the paper into a self-sustaining business.

With Lacey as executive editor and Larkin overseeing advertising, the publication grew its circulation and explored social and political issues, gaining prominence among alternative newspapers. In 1983, New Times acquired Westword, Denver’s news-and-arts weekly, initiating an expansion that eventually included a conglomerate of 17 papers across the country, such as the LA Weekly, Miami New Times, and the Village Voice in New York City.

Lacey and Larkin sold Village Voice Media (VVM) in 2012 to long-time company executives, and the company was renamed Voice Media Group (VMG). They retained control of Backpage at that time. Jim Larkin died on July 31, 2023, one week before the second Backpage trial was scheduled to begin.

Front Page Confidential

Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin also published Front Page Confidential, a website edited by Stephen Lemons. The site provides news, commentary, and historical perspectives on matters related to free speech. Media requests for Front Page Confidential can be sent to [email protected].

Key Facts

  • Michael Lacey was found guilty of one count of international concealment money laundering.
  • Lacey was spared convictions for facilitating prostitution, with the jury returning no verdict on 84 of 86 related counts.
  • Former Backpage executives Scott Spear and John Brunst were found guilty of conspiracy, money laundering, and, in Spear's case, prostitution counts.
  • Backpage.com was co-founded in 2004 by Michael Lacey, Jim Larkin, and Carl Ferrer.
  • Jim Larkin, co-founder of Backpage.com and business partner of Michael Lacey, died on July 31, 2023, at age 74.
  • Lacey and Larkin co-founded the Phoenix New Times and expanded it into a $400 million media conglomerate.