Visa is involved in a tremendous legal and prestige problem according to a BBC reportwhich explains that a minor sued pornhub and in passing to the financial company, for abuse distributed and hosted on the pornographic website.
The minor alleges that Visa, in processing ad revenue, conspired with Pornhub’s parent company, MindGeek, to make money from videos of her abuse.
The pre-trial ruling of the Central District Court of California is categorical:
The judge ruled that, at the current stage of the proceedings, “the Court can infer a strong possibility that the Visa network was involved in at least some advertising transactions directly related to the plaintiff’s videos.”
But Visa argued that the “allegation that Visa recognized MindGeek as an authorized merchant and processed payment to its websites does not suggest that Visa agreed to engage in sex trafficking of any kind.”
He also argued, based on the judge’s account of his position, that a business relationship alone does not establish a conspiracy.
But Judge Cormac J. Carney said that, again at this stage in the proceedings, “the Court can comfortably infer that Visa intended to help MindGeek monetize child pornography from the very fact that Visa continued to provide MindGeek with the means to to do it and I knew MindGeek was doing it.
“Put another way, Visa is not alleged to have merely created an inducement to commit a crime, it is alleged to have knowingly provided the tool used to complete a crime.”
Visa gave its version to the BBC:
“This pre-trial ruling is disappointing and mischaracterizes the role of Visa and its policies and practices. Visa will not tolerate the use of our network for illegal activities. We continue to believe that Visa is an inappropriate defendant in this case.”
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