Woman claims Visa helped MindGeek monetize child porn

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Woman claims Visa helped MindGeek monetize child porn

She alleges that she contacted Mindgeek after learning about the video, pretending to be her mother to inform her that the video qualified as child pornography. A few weeks later it was removed from the video.

Ms Fleites said her life had spiralled out of control - there were several failed suicide attempts and family relationships deteriorated - while living at a friend's house, an older man introduced her to heroin.

While MindGeek profited from the child porn of Plaintiff, Plaintiff was intermittently homeless or living in her car, addicted to heroin, depressed and suicidal, without the support of her family, Judge Cormac J. Carney'sCarney's summary of her allegations states.

MindGeek told the BBC that the court has not yet ruled on the truth of the allegations, and is required to assume all of the plaintiffs' allegations are true and accurate.

The plaintiff's claims will be dismissed for lack of merit when the court can consider the facts, the company said.

But Visa argued that the allegation that Visa recognized MindGeek as an authorized merchant and processed payments to its websites does not mean Visa agreed to help MindGeek monetize child porn. Judge Carney said that at this stage of proceedings, the Court can comfortably infer that Visa intended to help MindGeek monetize child porn, and that MindGeek was indeed doing so.

Visa is not accused of simply creating an incentive to commit a crime, it is alleged to have knowingly provided the tool used to complete a crime. This pre-trial ruling is disappointing and mischaracterizes Visa's policies and practices. Visa will not tolerate the use of our network for illegal activities. We believe that Visa is an improper defendant in this case.