MindGeek Execs and Owners — Along With Visa and Colbeck Capital — Hit With U.S. Lawsuit
Michelle Celarier, 17 June 2021
Thirty-four women who claim they are victims of Pornhub filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against the company’s secretive Canadian parent, MindGeek; its owners and executives; Visa, which processes payments for the porn site; and hedge fund Colbeck Capital, which underwrote a debt financing for the company.
“MindGeek is a classic criminal enterprise run, according to those who know it best, ‘just like the Sopranos,’” according to the complaint, written by Mike Bowe, partner at Brown Rudnick, who is representing the plaintiffs in the case.
MindGeek is an online pornography company, but according to the complaint, “is also one of the largest human trafficking ventures in the world. And it is likely the largest non-regulatory repository of child pornography in North America.”
The 179-page complaint, which is filled with details from women claiming they were victims of the porn site, was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California.
“The MindGeek defendants got rich,” the complaint alleges. “Also knowingly profiting along with them, were major American credit companies and banks, including in particular here, defendant Visa, who was uniquely suited to stop this exploitation but chose instead to participate in the profiteering.”
