Agents from the Department of Homeland Security, along with officers from the NYPD, carried boxes of documents and computer servers out of the Rentboy operations center. Millions of dollars were seized and the operation's bank accounts were frozen, authorities said.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn accused Hurant of selling advertisements to high-priced male prostitutes for several hundred dollars, then charging Rentboy. It's next to use, we work from morning to night and it's all around us, it's ridiculous," one neighbor said.
Outside court, he and his lawyer insisted his business was a legitimate companionship service, and that similar escort websites elsewhere have operated without becoming the target of a federal investigation. Each defendant faces up to five years in prison if convicted of conspiring to commit crimes involving interstate or foreign travel, WCBS 's Ginny Kosola reported.
The judge warned that the charges could be upgraded as the investigation continues. Authorities say Hurant ran the website and a Twitter account using the handle "thecyberpimp" and was quoted as saying, "Money can't buy you love, but the rest is negotiable. Attorney Kelly Currie said in a statement. Hurant claimed in interviews he learned that the term "rentboy" was British slang for male escorts while he was attending Oxford University, according to the criminal complaint.
He has said he started the website because "escorts were a disenfranchised group," it says. Asked by an undercover investigator who went to the Hookies and how the show started, Hurant responded, "Have you ever had sex with anyone and it was so good you had to tell someone?
