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Mastercard and Visa investigate Pornhub ties over child abuse allegations
The world’s largest credit card networks said they could cut ties with Pornhub and its Canadian parent company MindGeek over the issue.
Dec. 7, 2020, 10:48 AM PST
By Ryan Browne, CNBC
Mastercard and Visa are investigating their business relationship with Pornhub after allegations that the popular porn site is hosting child sexual abuse content.
The world’s largest credit card networks said they could cut ties with Pornhub and its Canadian parent company MindGeek over the issue.
It comes after a column in The New York Times detailed claims of underage sex, rape and revenge porn videos running rampant on Pornhub.
The report cites a number of first-hand accounts from victims who have appeared in such videos. Many said they were left traumatized and suicidal from the ordeal, according to the NYT.
“Any assertion that we allow CSAM (child sexual abuse material) is irresponsible and flagrantly untrue,” a Pornhub spokesperson told CNBC. “Pornhub is unequivocally committed to combating CSAM, and has instituted an industry-leading trust and safety policy to identify and eradicate illegal material from our community.”
And if you believe that, you might be interested in the tropical island I have for sale on the Labrador coast...
Mastercard is “investigating the allegations raised in the New York Times” and “working with MindGeek’s bank to understand this situation,” a spokesperson for the company told CNBC.
“If the claims are substantiated, we will take immediate action.”
Visa said it is “aware of the allegations” and was “actively engaging” with relevant financial institutions and MindGeek to investigate.
“If the site is identified as not complying with applicable laws or the financial institutions’ acceptable use policies and underwriting standards they will no longer be able to accept Visa payments,” a Visa spokesperson told CNBC.
Over the weekend, billionaire investor Bill Ackman slammed Pornhub and said that American Express, Visa and Mastercard “should immediately withhold payments or withdraw until this is fixed.”
American Express says it has a global policy that prohibits the acceptance of its cards on digital adult content sites.
PayPal, meanwhile, stopped processing payments to Pornhub last year.
NZ man jailed for more than 15 years on 72 child sexual exploitation charges
Denise Piper, Stuff
13:26, Dec 09, 2020
A Northland man who pleaded guilty to more than 70 charges of child sexual exploitation has been jailed for 15 years and five months.
Brent James Ruddell, 34, from Kerikeri, earlier admitted sexual violation of children as young as 3 and filming his acts among the mass of charges.
The offences occurred in Tauranga from 2016 and Kerikeri from 2017 to 2019 against five victims who were family friends.
In the High Court in Whangārei on Wednesday, Justice Mark Woolford sentenced Ruddell to 15 years and five months in prison, with a minimum non-parole period of eight years.
In court, the mothers and grandmothers of the unnamed victims spoke of how they trusted Ruddell as a father and family friend, and he exploited their vulnerabilities to gain access to their young children – including asking for a playdate with his own child.
One mother said she had fallen in love with Ruddell and felt ongoing guilt for introducing him to her daughter. After the abuse, the daughter developed separation anxiety and found every day at school a struggle, the woman said.
“What you have done is one of the worst crimes,” she told Ruddell. “I think it's absolutely disgusting that after you abused my daughter you continued to have a relationship and have sex with me.”
Unfortunately, it is not unusual for a paedophile to have a relationship with a woman to get access to her child/children. They are that low in moral character.
The woman said that as long as Ruddell was alive, he would continue to exploit children. “Brent, you’re nothing; you’re less than nothing,” she said.
Judge chokes up at victims’ courage
Justice Woolford had to hold back tears when he thanked the packed courthouse at the end of the long sentencing.
“I want to thank everyone who attended today for their courage and the dignity that they have [shown] in this traumatic time.”
Earlier, the judge found that Ruddell’s sexual violation offences were in the same category as rape, and that he showed planning and pre-meditation of his offending against vulnerable victims, aged 3 to 6.
“Their lives have been shattered,” Woolford told Ruddell. “It will take many years for the victims to recover from your shocking sexual abuse.”
The judge said he calculated the sentence by starting with 18 years in prison for the sexual violation, increasing it to 22 years for recording the abuse and possessing objectionable publications.
He refused to give Ruddell a discount for his lack of previous convictions – due to the offending being prolonged over three years – nor would he give a reduction for remorse beyond pleading guilty.
However, the judge did give a 30 per cent discount, mostly for Ruddell’s early guilty plea as well as some recognition of his upbringing, which included sexual, physical and psychological abuse.
Justice Woolford said he did not think preventive detention was necessary to protect the community from Ruddell’s reoffending, but ordered a minimum jail time of eight years.
Charges include Customs offences for images
Ruddell’s offences include a Customs charge of exporting prohibited goods, for exporting two images which depicted the sexual exploitation or abuse of a child.
His other offences include 12 charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection, two charges of unlawful sexual connection with a female under 12, 41 charges of knowingly making an objectionable publication of child exploitation by filming his abuse, and 11 charges of possessing an objectionable publication with knowledge.
He also has a representative charge of unlawful possession of objectionable material and a representative charge of distributing objectionable material, with the charges representing more than 1000 offensive photos against toddlers and young children.
Ruddell’s offences also include one charge each of abduction for sex, possession of cannabis and possession of a methamphetamine pipe.
He was charged after Customs started investigating the exportation – or uploading – of child sexual exploitation images onto a social media platform. A search warrant in November 2019 uncovered Ruddell’s own videos and photos of his sexual violation against the children.
‘This should serve as a warning’ – Customs, police say
The sentencing was welcomed by Customs and police, who worked together with Internal Affairs to identify the victims in Ruddell’s publications.
Child sexual exploitation materials are crime scenes of abuse, said Simon Peterson, chief Customs officer – child exploitation operations team. “Sadly, we’re seeing that there is an increasing amount of crossover between those who deal in child sexual abuse material, and those who physically offend against children,” he said
“Today’s sentencing is further evidence of the strength of a joint-agency approach to stopping child sexual exploitation, and increasing the safety of victims and our communities.”
Detective Inspector Rhys Johnston from Northland Police says Ruddell upended the lives of several families through his shocking offending, which had left lasting impacts on his victims and their families.
“The nature of offending by this predator was horrific and our absolute priority was identifying the children involved as quickly as possible.”
Johnston said the case should serve as a warning to child sex offenders, that New Zealand was connected to a “highly effective” international network detecting offenders trading objectionable material online.
Former WA police officer accused of abusing two children over a decade
Sarah Steger, PerthNow
December 8, 2020 4:11PM
A former WA cop has been accused of sexually abusing two young girls — raping, indecently dealing with and assaulting the children for a decade while working for the WA Police Force.
The 71-year-old man, who retired from the force 24 years ago, is facing seven child sex abuse charges involving to two young girls who were five and 10 years old respectively when the alleged abuse first began.
It is alleged that over 10 years, between 1988 and 1998, the man indecently dealt with a child under the age of 13 three times.
He is also charged with one count of raping a child under 13 years, two counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of having a sexual relationship with a child under the age of 16.
Detectives from the Child Abuse Squad charged the Greenmount man late last month as a result of their investigations into historical child sexual abuse allegations.
He will face Perth Magistrate’s Court today.
If you are or have been a victim of child sexual abuse, or if you have information about someone being abused, please contact police on 131 444.
The genius of evil is relentless in its creativity
You can order a child sex doll to look like some kid you know and want to violate
By ISABELLE STACKPOOL FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
PUBLISHED: 18:33 EST, 8 December 2020
Sick child sex dolls modelled on a 14-year-old girl have been sold on a popular shopping site and shipped across Australia.
One seller on Etsy, with the username Sexy Lady Fox, confirmed the dolls at the store were modelled off a 14-year-old Instagram star.
Perverts were also able to send in a photo of a real child to have the 156cm dolls, the same height as an average 13-year-old girl, customised, NCA Newswire reported.
Australian sexual assault advocacy group, Collective Shout, posed as an interested buyer and provided the store with two computer-generated images of children. The seller responded they could 'change the wig' to make the doll 'very similar to the pictures you sent me'.
Etsy removed the shop from its platform after being informed of the seller. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Etsy for comment.
Childlike sex dolls are considered child sex material in Australia and their importation carries a penalty of up to $555,000 and 10 years in prison.
Sexy Lady Fox, who identified themselves as Federica, said the shop was 'selling the most required real dolls on the market'. 'To be honest, if I think that somebody (will) buy and use a real doll instead doing something wrong with a young girl, I'm grateful,' the seller explained.
Perhaps for a brief period of time. But sin is progressive, and it will be just a matter of time before the pervert needs the real thing.
Caitlin Roper, the Collective Shout campaign manager, said child sex dolls 'legitimise and normalise men's sexual use and abuse of children'.
'Defenders of child sex abuse dolls claim that they could prevent child abuse, but there is no evidence for this,' she told Daily Mail Australia.
'There was a case in Florida this year where a child sex abuse doll was apparently modelled on the image of an eight-year-old girl posted to social media.'
Ms Roper said customisable sex dolls were 'a new technologically-mediated way to victimise children'.
'Even when child sex abuse dolls are not necessarily being advertised, some sellers will customise dolls to appear child-like, or even based on buyers specifications.
'Men could commission child sex dolls to be made of children they know, children in their care, children whose images have been publicly shared to social media, or children they have seen out in public,' she explained.
Australia has seen a spike in childlike sex doll imports with the Australian Border Force seizing more than 100 dolls in less than five months to November 18.
At least 191 dolls have been found this calendar year, in comparison to 145 in the whole of 2019.
The majority of dolls were discovered in packages from mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.
Someone should find the shops where they make these and drop a bomb on them.
NSW man to face court for online child exploitation
Life
DEC 9, 2020 9:50 AM AEDT
A 46-year-old man charged with allegedly possessing child abuse videos and images is expected to face Condobolin Court today (9 December 2020).
Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers from the Eastern Command Child Protection Operations team arrested the man at his home in Central West NSW yesterday (8 December 2020) after he was allegedly identified during an investigation into an alleged child sex offender in Victoria.
Police suspect the 46-year-old man shared child abuse material on a social media platform.
AFP officers found child abuse material on the man’s mobile phone when they executed a search warrant at his home yesterday.
He was charged and refused police bail to face court today for possessing or controlling child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service, contrary to section 474.22A of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth).
The potential maximum penalty for this offence is 15 years’ imprisonment.
Childcare worker charged over sexual abuse of four-year-old girl
– NSW South Coast
Mirage
Detectives have charged a childcare worker following an investigation into the alleged sexual abuse of a four-year-old girl on the state’s South Coast.
Earlier this week, detectives from the State Crime Command’s Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad commenced an investigation following reports a four-year-old girl had been sexually assaulted by a man while in his care.
Following extensive inquiries, detectives arrested a 54-year-old man near Mollymook about 12pm yesterday (Tuesday 8 December 2020).
A crime scene warrant was subsequently executed at a vacant home near Mollymook, where investigators conducted a thorough examination of the property.
The man was taken to Ulladulla Police Station and charged with take/detain person with intent to obtain advantage, intentionally sexually touch child under 10 years and aggravated sexually touch another person.
Police will allege in court the man took the girl to a vacant property while she was in his care at a South Coast childcare centre, before sexually touching her on two occasions between February and December 2020.
The man, who is a childcare worker, was refused bail to appear at Nowra Local Court today (Wednesday 9 December 2020).
Investigations are continuing.
As I have written many times - Please don't hire a male carer for your children. There are way too many stories on this blog of such creeps. Men have no business being caregivers. There is never a good reason for a male to want to be around someone else's children full-time.
Mollymook, NSW
Calgary man re-arrested on additional child sex abuse charges
Jillian Code
CTVNews Calgary
Published Tuesday, December 8, 2020 1:45PM MST
CALGARY -- A Calgary man has been re-arrested after investigators learned of additional allegations, including luring and sexually assaulting a minor, as well as drug trafficking.
Mazar was re-arrested Monday after investigators learned of another alleged instance of sexual coercion with a minor.
It is alleged between April and August of 2020, a 16-year-old girl was repeatedly assaulted. In addition to the charges from November, investigators have charged Mazar for obtaining sexual services, luring and sexually assaulting a minor, and drug trafficking.
It is believed Mazar arranged for the girl to be transported to his residence, where he attempted to use alcohol to intoxicate her. He also allegedly provided her with drugs and money in exchange for non-consensual sexual services.
Following his initial arrest, Mazar was charged in connection to a minor allegedly being coerced into sexual acts with himself and an adult woman in exchange for money and drugs. Mazar was released on conditions, and was present for his Nov. 18 court date.
Mazar currently remains in custody and was scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.
Police are asking anyone with information relating to this investigation to contact Amy Spence, a child abuse detective, at 403-428-5457.
As well, police encourage anyone who feels like they may be a victim of child abuse to contact themat 403-266-1234.
In Canada, there is no time limit for a victim to report a sexual assault to police.
Scottish man to stand trial over alleged child sex abuse in Belfast
Alan Erwin, Belfast Telegraph
December 08, 2020, 03:37 PM
A man from Scotland has been ordered to stand trial for alleged child sex abuse offences in Belfast up to 30 years ago.
The 44-year-old accused appeared at the city's Magistrates' Court on Tuesday to face a total of six charges.
He is not being named to protect the alleged victim's identity.
The defendant, with an address in Glasgow, is charged with two counts each of making an indecent photograph of a child, indecent assault on a female, and gross indecency with a child.
The alleged offences were committed over a period from 1990 to 1995.
During a preliminary enquiry hearing the man confirmed that he understood the charges against him but declined to give any evidence or call witnesses at this stage. His lawyer did not dispute prosecution submissions that he has a case to answer.
District Judge Fiona Bagnall then granted an application to have him sent for trial at Belfast Crown Court. She released him on continuing bail, to return for arraignment on a date to be fixed.
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