<story><title>Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts</title><url>https://reason.com/2024/04/25/judge-acquits-backpage-co-founder-michael-lacey-on-most-counts/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>brookst</author><text>I spent a few minutes trying to figure that out, but Reason is incredibly slanted, they just link to some even nuttier site, and even starting with news I couldn&amp;#x27;t find specifics of the one count he was convicted on.&lt;p&gt;But I&amp;#x27;d be a little skeptical of Reason&amp;#x27;s handwave &amp;quot;properly reported to the government&amp;quot;. Reported on taxes? To SEC? As part of disclosure for this trial?&lt;p&gt;One way it could be money laundering without being proceeds of a crime is if he took $1M from Pablo Escobar for a huge advertising commit and then refunded $900k to Able Paleo Bars, LLC for unused ad spend.</text></item><item><author>beaeglebeachh</author><text>And how is it money laundering if it turned out the money wasn&amp;#x27;t proceeds of crime.</text></item><item><author>nadermx</author><text>&amp;quot;And on June 17, Lacey is scheduled to be sentenced on the one count—international concealment of money laundering—on which the jury found him guilty. It comes with a possible sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison. Lacey plans to appeal his conviction on this count, and there seems like a good chance it will be successful, since the money he allegedly &amp;quot;concealed&amp;quot; was reported to the federal government with all the proper paperwork. But he could still face prison time as that appeals process plays out.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;How was he found guilty of concealed money when he reported it to begin with? Then could still serve prison time for it.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Niten</author><text>Media Bias Fact Check ranks Reason as a &amp;quot;Right-Center&amp;quot; biased website with a &amp;quot;High&amp;quot; rating for factual reporting: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;mediabiasfactcheck.com&amp;#x2F;reason&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;mediabiasfactcheck.com&amp;#x2F;reason&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;They certainly approach stories with an editorial perspective, but they&amp;#x27;re generally factually reliable and hardly &amp;quot;incredibly slanted&amp;quot;.</text></comment>
<story><title>Judge acquits Backpage co-founder Michael Lacey on most counts</title><url>https://reason.com/2024/04/25/judge-acquits-backpage-co-founder-michael-lacey-on-most-counts/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>brookst</author><text>I spent a few minutes trying to figure that out, but Reason is incredibly slanted, they just link to some even nuttier site, and even starting with news I couldn&amp;#x27;t find specifics of the one count he was convicted on.&lt;p&gt;But I&amp;#x27;d be a little skeptical of Reason&amp;#x27;s handwave &amp;quot;properly reported to the government&amp;quot;. Reported on taxes? To SEC? As part of disclosure for this trial?&lt;p&gt;One way it could be money laundering without being proceeds of a crime is if he took $1M from Pablo Escobar for a huge advertising commit and then refunded $900k to Able Paleo Bars, LLC for unused ad spend.</text></item><item><author>beaeglebeachh</author><text>And how is it money laundering if it turned out the money wasn&amp;#x27;t proceeds of crime.</text></item><item><author>nadermx</author><text>&amp;quot;And on June 17, Lacey is scheduled to be sentenced on the one count—international concealment of money laundering—on which the jury found him guilty. It comes with a possible sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison. Lacey plans to appeal his conviction on this count, and there seems like a good chance it will be successful, since the money he allegedly &amp;quot;concealed&amp;quot; was reported to the federal government with all the proper paperwork. But he could still face prison time as that appeals process plays out.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;How was he found guilty of concealed money when he reported it to begin with? Then could still serve prison time for it.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dannyobrien</author><text>What is this &amp;quot;nuttier&amp;quot; site you&amp;#x27;re talking about? Do you mean &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;frontpageconfidential.com&amp;#x2F;aboutfpc&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;frontpageconfidential.com&amp;#x2F;aboutfpc&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt; , the site run by Lacey and Larkin and their fellow journalists, in order to defend themselves?</text></comment>