Pornhub says it ‘deeply regrets’ profiting from sex trafficking and will pay at least $1.8 million to resolve federal charges

Aylo Holdings, the website’s parent company, reached a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve a charge of engaging in unlawful monetary transactions involving sex trafficking proceeds, according to the office of Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

The deal calls for the Montreal-based company to pay more than $1.8 million to the U.S. government, as well as make separate payments to the individual women harmed by the trafficking. It also requires appointment of an independent monitor for three years, after which the charges will be dismissed.

“It is our hope that this resolution, which includes certain agreed payments to the women whose images were posted on the company’s platforms and an independent monitorship brings some measure of closure to those negatively affected,” Peace said in the statement.

James Smith, head of the FBI’s New York office, said Aylo Holdings “knowingly enriched itself by turning a blind eye” to victims who told the company they had been deceived and coerced into the videos.

The charge stemmed from Aylo’s role in hosting videos and accepting payments from GirlsDoPorn.

Operators of that now-defunct adult film production company were charged and eventually convicted of a range of sex trafficking crimes, including coercing young women into engaging in sexual acts on camera that were then posted on Pornhub and other adult sites without their consent.

Prosecutors say that between 2017 and 2020, Aylo received money that company officials knew or should have known was derived from GirlsDoPorn’s sex trafficking operations.

They also say the company didn’t act swiftly or thoroughly enough to remove all the…