1874 painting entitled 'French retreat from Russia in 1812,' by Illarion Mikhailovich Pryanishnikov, showing French soldiers stumbling through the snow

“We are like the French troops in Russia when the snow started falling. The difference is we have winter coats and better lawyers.” –Michael Lacey, Backpage defendant, veteran newspaperman, and First Amendment stalwart A federal judge in Phoenix has rejected…

Color head shot of Maggie McNeill

Maggie McNeill possesses an intellect as acerbic as a vat of hydrochloric acid. Watching as it devours the objects of her scorn is one of the great pleasures of reading her blog, The Honest Courtesan, which she takes to daily…

Screenshot of the photo and headline treatment that topped Elizabeth Nolan Brown's August 2018 Reason.com profile of Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, former owners of the online classified-ad site Backpage.com. Shows a photo of Lacey and Larkin, along with the story's headline, 'The Senate Accused Them of Selling Kids for Sex. The FBI Raided Their Homes. Backpage.com’s Founders Speak for the First Time. An inside look at how indie media veterans James Larkin and Michael Lacey became the targets of a federal witchhunt.'

In an in-depth profile by Elizabeth Nolan Brown published this week on the website Reason.com, veteran newspaper publishers and former Backpage.com co-owners Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin spoke out candidly about their arrests on federal charges of money laundering, conspiracy,…

color photo of a grizzled, grinning Michael Lacey walking, hand in hand with his wife, as an unidentified reporter runs alongside, taking a picture with his phone.

The smile on Michael Lacey’s face as he exited the Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse in Phoenix, Arizona, at a little after noon on Friday was worth a million dollars. Literally. That morning, Lacey posted a $1 million bond, secured…

color photo of criminal defense attorney Paul Cambria in suit and tie

Looking as hale and hearty as a man can while clad in prisoner’s stripes, Michael Lacey inched closer to freedom on Wednesday afternoon during an appearance before a federal judge in Phoenix to determine the terms of his release. The…

video screenshots of former Backpage.com owners Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin at a 2017 hearing of the U.S. Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

Zero sex-trafficking charges. That’s the most glaring aspect of a Phoenix federal grand jury’s belatedly unsealed 93-count indictment against seven current and former owners and operators of the online listings site Backpage.com. The defendants include veteran newspapermen Michael Lacey and Jim…

Michael Lacey, dressed in black and frowning, seated at a table in front of a microphone and a placard that bears his name

UPDATE 4/9/18, 2:43 PM: The indictment has just become available, and you can read it here. Along with Lacey and Larkin, other erstwhile Backpage execs are indicted. CEO Carl Ferrer’s name is not among the indicted, though a “C.F.” is…