A Corporate Culture of Pure Corruption

Tony Ortega

Recently we read about Backpage’s clandestine strategy to use the Philippines as a testing ground to develop new overseas markets for their human sex trafficking scam.

We saw how it was the heads of Backpage accomplished this, using a controversial strategy of hijacking information from the other websites to create competing sex trafficking ads on Backpage. It was a process the company internally referred to as “preboarding”.

On August 7, 2014, Dan Hyer sent an email stating that an organization based in the Philippines, referred to in court documents as ‘Company B’, was “ an efficient and cost effective way for us to bring new users to backpage.”

       In reality, however, it was little more than plundering vast amounts of user data from other prostitution and underage sex trafficking sites for inclusion into their own.

This particularly incriminating email also contained the following summary of how exactly how ‘Company’ B would participate in Backpage’s scam offering:

“ Process after hiring company offering BPO services:

  1. Backpage provides BPO with sites, categories & countries to target. Backpage also provides sample ‘scripts’ and examples of phone calls.
  2. BPO contacts users via phone from sites backpage provided, obtains user email address & permission to ‘preboard’ ad.
  3. BPO ‘preboards’ ad as public user.
  4. After ad is ‘preboarded’, users receive verification link to verify the ad.” This email also stated that Backpage would offer a “bonus per verified authenticated ad.”

Three days later,  on April 10, 2015, a so-called “ five-year business plan” was emailed to James Larkin, Jed Brunst, Scott Spear and Carl Ferrer. It stated plainly that one of the major goals for the 2015 fiscal year was “ Off shore marketing staff in the Philippines to grow to 166 and main task is international market content acquisition.”

Along with its arrogant hopes for such rapid international growth, Backpage took the occasion of this email to revel in its own ‘corporate culture of corruption’ by including a separate attachment stating that its Operations Manager, Dan Hyer, should be considered for promotion because “ his strengths are strong marketing and revenue growth skills” as he had long been “ heavily involved in the user experience development”.

The email went on to further suggest that Assistant Operations Manager Joye Vaught should be considered for a promotion because “[h]er strengths include six years of experience”.

When seen within the larger made clear in the context of the State’s indictment of Backpage these ‘years of experience’ and ‘heavy involvement in user experience’ attest to the same thing — when it came to illegally selling sex with children and vulnerable women on a global scale, the magnitude of Backpage’s culture of corruption was a point of corporate pride.