The founder and CEO of Rentboy, at one time the largest gay-escort Web site, pleaded guilty Friday in Brooklyn federal court to the promotion of prostitution, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Jeffrey Hurant faces up to five years in prison when sentenced in February.
“I agreed with others to accept payments from multiple advertisers and promoted the exchange of sexual conduct in return for a fee,” he said to Judge Robert Levy.
Hurant pleaded not guilty earlier this year but accepted a plea deal that includes a prison sentence of less than the 20 years he had been facing.
The 51-year-old is charged with operating an online brothel that knowingly allowed escorts to pay for ads that touted sexual services.
“Money can’t buy you love … but the rest is negotiable,” the site once promised.
What is non-negotiable is part of the plea agreement in which Hurant cannot appeal if his prison sentence is less than 24 months and the company’s fine is less than $10 million.
Longtime gay activist Bill Dobbs was outraged that a business that was operating out in the open for almost two decades is now defunct and its CEO is facing incarceration.
“It’s wasteful prosecution,” Dobbs said. “It’s the war on sex. It feels like it’s something out of the 1950s.”
Rentboy’s operation came to an abrupt halt last year when it was raided by the Department of Homeland Security.