The former top editor of a chain of alternative weekly newspapers was sentenced to five years in federal prison, 15 years less than what prosecutors sought, for his role in a scheme that netted longer sentences for two other executives and led to his former business partner's suicide, the Arizona Republic reports. Michael Lacey, whose Phoenix New Times anchored the New Times chain, was found guilty only of laundering proceeds from the sale of Backpage.com, the website he co-founded and that prosecutors said became an online brothel. Lacey was also fined $3 million. The verdict last fall followed weeks of testimony at the federal courthouse in Phoenix that laid out the government’s theory on how Backpage worked with prostitutes and pimps to post thinly-veiled ads for prostitution. The jury found Lacey guilty of a single charge for setting up a trust in Hungary to benefit his sons. Prosecutors said Lacey did so to conceal the source of the funds. Trial testimony showed Lacey had intended to shield the money from seizure by the government.
Also sentenced Wednesday were Scott Spear and Jon Brunst, former executives who ran Backpage. The government sought 20 year prison sentences for those men, too. They were convicted on many more charges and were each sentenced to 10 years in prison. Neither was fined. All three men were ordered to turn themselves in to the U.S. Marshals Service by Sept. 11 at noon. They were ordered confined to their homes and to have ankle monitors affixed before they left the courthouse Wednesday. Attorneys for the three men said in court they planned to appeal the convictions. In a statement released ahead of the two-day sentencing hearing Tuesday, Lacey said he had little to do with the operations of Backpage. “It was a business and I did not work in business,” he wrote. “I ran the journalists and editors.” During the sentencing, Judge Diane Humetewa said Lacey was put on notice that the funds earned from Backpage came from illegal prostitution ads, including for underage girls. Lacey, along with James Larkin, partnered to make New Times a groundbreaking tabloid in Phoenix. The brand franchised to other cities, eventually taking over the Village Voice in New York. The pair were arrested in March 2018. The case initially went to trial in 2021, but a judge declared a mistrial after a few days of testimony. Larkin died by suicide in August 2023, days before the second trial was to begin.
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