Pornhub owner to pay $1.8 million to US for sex trafficking ties, no charges faced

NEW YORK, US - The Montreal-based company that owns Pornhub will not face charges over links to a sex trafficking operation but has agreed to pay $1.8 million to the US government and make payments to victims, officials said Thursday.

Aylo Holdings, the parent company of Pornhub, has entered into what is known as a deferred prosecution agreement, the US Attorney's Office said.

Under the agreement, an independent monitor will be appointed for a period of three years to ensure compliance with the terms of the deal and Aylo will make a $1.8 million payment to the United States, it said.

Aylo will also make unspecified monetary payments to "individuals adversely affected by the underlying sex trafficking," the US Attorney's Office said in a statement.

"This deferred prosecution agreement holds the parent company of Pornhub.com accountable for its role in hosting videos and accepting payments from criminal actors who coerced young women into engaging in sexual acts on videos that were posted without their consent," US Attorney Breon Peace said.

"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 added.

The US Attorney's Office said that Aylo, beginning in 2009, hosted pornographic videos created by GirlsDoPorn (GDP) on its websites, including Pornhub.com.

GDP's operators were indicted in California in 2019 on sex trafficking charges which included allegations that they deceived and coerced young women into appearing in sex videos which were then posted online without their consent.

The US Attorney's Office said Aylo would be prosecuted if it breaches the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement.