Phoenix, AZ (September 9, 2025) – An HWG LLP team, led by partner Jonathan M. Baum, obtained a highly favorable sentencing outcome for client Carl Ferrer, former CEO of Backpage.com, the world’s second largest classified ad site, in one of the most closely watched online trafficking prosecutions in recent history.
The federal government seized Backpage in 2018 amid allegations that the website’s adult classifieds facilitated prostitution and human trafficking, leading to sweeping federal charges against the company’s founders and executives.
On September 9, 2025, U.S. District Judge Diane J. Humetewa of the District of Arizona sentenced Ferrer to three years of probation and $40,000 in restitution. Ferrer’s co-defendant, former sales director Dan Hyer, also avoided incarceration. Jonathan represented Ferrer and successfully argued against a recommendation of 60 months of incarceration and $3.4 million in restitution, emphasizing that Ferrer had been misled by Backpage co-founders Michael Lacey and James Larkin into believing his conduct was legally protected.
Ferrer’s cooperation was central to the government’s ability to establish a $215 million victims’ fund and to secure convictions against the owners of Backpage. As part of his cooperation, Ferrer shut down the Backpage website in 99 countries, helped recover more than $140 million in cryptocurrency to benefit trafficking victims, and testified for 12 days in the trial of his codefendants.
Lacey was sentenced last year to five years in prison following a conviction on money laundering charges, while other executives received sentences of up to ten years.
This outcome represents a landmark result for HWG’s litigation team, reflecting the firm’s ability to secure unusually lenient sentences in high-profile federal cases. Jonathan led the HWG team representing Ferrer and was supported by associate Joy Holden.