Who is Tony Ortega?

Tony Ortega & Backpage.com Investigative Series

As part of the ongoing investigation into propagandist/blogger-for-hire Tony Ortega, our coverage has included developments in the federal trial of Michael Lacey in Phoenix, now in its final stages.

To recap, Lacey (Ortega’s former employer) is charged with facilitating prostitution and money laundering through the half-billion-dollar enterprise that became the biggest online marketplace for selling underage sex—Backpage.com.

For 17 years, Ortega worked for Lacey (and Jim Larkin who committed suicide just before trial) and from his position as editor of The Village Voice, Ortega operated as chief attack dog for Backpage, defending and enabling the site’s underage sex trafficking operation.

Our recent reporting includes new reflections on the trial and Tony Ortega’s role in defending Backpage.com, not to mention his current activities—observations that are of continuing interest.

ALL INVESTIGATIVE ARTICLES

Tony Ortega is still silent

The Backpage Trial Is Over

The people and sordid operation Tony Ortega once defended are found guilty in federal trial, and further action could come.

Tony Ortega: Will the feds come knocking on his door?

Tony Ortega’s Biggest Fear

As the Backpage.com trial draws to a close, what’s going on with the once staunch defender of the sex ads website who remains silent while his former bosses and colleagues face possible life sentences?

Tony Ortega usually has much to say about nearly everything, except the trial of his former Backpage comrades, on which he has been uncharacteristically silent for years.

King Rat

Tony Ortega bailed fast from Backpage and seems happy to let the ship and his former boss go down—while he stays out of it

Tony Ortega’s defense of Backpage.com turned a blind eye to the inhuman damage wrought by the prostitution ads that included underage victims.

Pants on Fire

When Tony Ortega was Village Voice editor, he played down the underage prostitution ads appearing on Backpage.com, calling it a “small number.” Anti-trafficking groups numbers tell a different story.

Defense attorney Paul Cambria (who represented Hustler magazine owner Larry Flynt) and Backpage defender Tony Ortega – antireligious doppelgangers.

The Antireligious Gang

Backpage defense going after people of belief who pushed back against online sex ads

With Backpage.com pulling in half a billion dollars, a 2-year payout for Tony Ortega when he was fired from The Village Voice doesn’t seem alluring enough to buy his silence for more than a decade.

Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin Struck Gold

The Village Voice Media cofounders made huge money running ads facilitating prostitution and underage child sex abuse on Backpage.com. Did loyalist Tony Ortega share in the wealth?

Sex ads defender Tony Ortega bragged that his bosses, Lacey and Larkin, were “smart enough to start Backpage.com.” Lacey is on trial facing a life sentence. Larkin committed suicide before the trial started.

CASH COW

Backpage: The Elephant in the Room

The worst-kept secret in Village Voice Media was where all the money was coming from.

Tony Ortega defended Backpage sex ads until he was fired as Village Voice editor; Michael Lacey (inset), on trial for facilitation of prostitution and money laundering; and Carl Ferrer, former Backpage CEO who testified for the prosecution.

Backpage Insider Testifies: “Those Were Prostitution Ads.”

With his blunt admissions, former Backpage CEO did the heavy lifting for the prosecution.

Tony Ortega and the Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse in Phoenix, Arizona, where Backpage cofounder Michael Lacey is being tried.

UNDERAGE VICTIMS

Tony Ortega Called Child Sex Trafficking “Small Problem”

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said 73% of all child trafficking reports they received from the general public involved Backpage.com.

Tony Ortega was the pimps’ best friend when he was chief defender of Backpage.com while editor of Village Voice.

NO SHOW

Where’s Tony?

With his old buddy and former boss on trial, facing charges that could put Michael Lacey in prison for the rest of his life, Tony Ortega is nowhere to be seen.

Tony Ortega is still diverting attention from his role in Backpage.

DIVERSIONARY TACTICS

Tony Ortega’s Treacherous Smokescreen

Tony Ortega has for years deflected scrutiny of underage sex trafficking ads on Backpage.com.

Tony Ortega—still silent about Backpage.com

ATTACK DOG

Sex Ads. Profit. Pushback.

Tony Ortega’s entanglement with Backpage went well beyond his attempts to ridicule and discredit those who opposed the sex trafficking trade he profited from.

Tony Ortega—still has some explaining to do

OBSCENE PROFITS

Conspiracy for Profit

As Tony Ortega entered The Village Voice, journalism went out the door and soulless moneymaking came in.

Backpage.com trial

DIRTY MONEY

Tony Ortega’s Deal to Remain Silent About Backpage.com

Dirty money from sex trafficking paid Ortega’s salary for five years and has bought his silence ever since he was fired over a decade ago.