DALLAS, TX – Wilhan Martono, 48, is headed to federal prison for more than eight years after knowingly running a digital brothel that fueled the sex trafficking trade. Martono, owner of CityXGuide.com, was sentenced Monday by Chief U.S. District Judge David Godbey and ordered to forfeit over $15 million in assets, including a hefty $2 million in silver bullion and nearly $1 million in cryptocurrency. The sentence marks a significant victory in the fight against online exploitation, and a stark warning to those who profit from the suffering of others.
The feds took down CityXGuide and its sister sites on June 19, 2020, arresting Martono in the process. He later pleaded guilty on August 24, 2021, to one count of promotion of prostitution and reckless disregard of sex trafficking, and one count of conspiracy to engage in interstate transportation in aid of racketeering enterprises – essentially, facilitating prostitution on a massive scale. This case is particularly notable as the first guilty plea entered under the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), the 2018 law designed to crack down on websites enabling sex trafficking.
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Chad E. Meacham, didn’t mince words. “The owner of CityXGuide intentionally disregarded the blatant sexual abuse occurring on his platform. He profited off of the exploitation of vulnerable women and children, just like the traffickers advertising them on his website did,” Meacham stated. The 97-month sentence reflects the severity of the crimes and the Justice Department’s commitment to dismantling these operations.
Court documents reveal Martono wasn’t just a passive host. He created, owned, and operated CityXGuide, along with a network of related sites including Backpage.co, CAPleasures.com, and BodyRubShop.com. He shrewdly registered the domain names for several of these sites on April 8, 2018 – the very day after the federal government shut down Backpage.com, the previous leading online marketplace for commercial sex. Martono saw an opportunity and seized it, quickly establishing his own network to fill the void.
Like its predecessor, CityXGuide allowed users to post hundreds of thousands of advertisements for commercial sex acts worldwide. Despite claiming to have terms of use prohibiting illegal services, Martono’s sites actively facilitated the trade, allowing brothels, pimps, and prostitutes to reach a vast audience. Users could even filter ads by geography and preference, essentially shopping for victims. Lester R. Hayes Jr., Special Agent in Charge of ICE Homeland Security Investigations Dallas, emphasized that the largest digital marketplace for sex trafficking no longer exists, thanks to the collaborative efforts of the North Texas Trafficking Task Force.
“This defendant’s greed and trafficking of those who were exploited through the commercial sex websites he created has cost him his freedom and the forfeiture of the criminal proceeds he obtained while committing these crimes,” Hayes added. William Smarr, Secret Service Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Field Office, highlighted the agency’s dedication to investigating financial crimes in the cyber domain. The case serves as a warning: those who enable and profit from sex trafficking will be relentlessly pursued and brought to justice.
Related Federal Cases
- Wyndham Corporation, Sex Trafficking, USA, 2023 · Washington
- Naomi Ruth Smith, Child Sex Trafficking, M.D. Florida, 2023 · Texas
- Marcus Deshawn Wright Sentenced to Life Terms for Sex Trafficking o… · Maryland
- David Allen Vickers, Sex Trafficking of Minors, Buffalo NY, 2023 · Texas
- US Justice Department, Drug and Arms Trafficking, Washington D.C., … · Tennessee
Key Facts
- Agency: U.S. Secret Service
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Press Release
Get the grimiest stories delivered weekly. Subscribe free
Browse More
