Local FBI officials confirmed “law enforcement activity” Friday morning at the Sedona-area home of Michael Lacey, a co-founder of the controversial classified-ad website Backpage.com.
There also appeared to be FBI activity at the luxurious Paradise Valley home of Jim Larkin, another Backpage co-founder.
The raids come amid what appears to be a shut-down of the website.
Cindy McCain, wife of Sen. John McCain and an outspoken advocate against human trafficking, said she had heard that federal law enforcement officials had raided not only Lacey’s home but every office of Backpage world-wide.
“They’ve confiscated everything and shut the website down,” she said.
McCain said she had tried to work with Lacey and Larkin to get Backpage to change its business model, but the company consistently refused.
“I wish that it didn’t have to go this far,” McCain said. “I wish they would have cooperated with us when we tried to get them to see they needed to stop this.”
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