TAG / CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING

Two centuries ago, US Congress banned the slave trade. Against that backdrop, Tony Ortega’s defense of Backpage child sex trafficking shows how exploitation evolves—and enablers evade accountability.

Amid the collapse of careers over even distant ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Tony Ortega’s public contempt for efforts to expose predators set the stage for a lifetime of defending the sexual exploitation of kids. 

As the UN champions global efforts against modern-day slavery, scrutiny is mounting over whether its attorney’s financial support of her husband—who long defended the world’s largest child sex trafficking marketplace—undermines the institution’s human rights mandate.

Tony Ortega, out-of-work blogger and former child sex trafficking Backpage.com facilitator. He would attempt to discredit those who threatened his cash cow.