Almost three months ago, Homeland Security raided the Manhattan offices of Rentboy.com, arresting CEO Jeffrey Hurant and six of his employees.

 

Attorney Kelly Currie said they were being charged with running an “internet brothel.” If convicted, they each face a maximum of five years behind bars and fines of $250,000.

 

Hurant has said little about the arrest. However, this week he posted a message on Facebook asking for help.

 

"This ordeal has been devastating for me, my family, my ex-employees and all the people my company has helped through the years," he wrote. "I am very grateful for all the support I have gotten from friends far and wide throughout the crisis. I count my blessings every day."

 

He pointed out that he has not been convicted of any crime, yet the government has frozen all of his assets. This, he said, is making financing his defense difficult.

 

He has set up a legal fund for help, and said that he needs to raise $250,000. So far the site has raised just over $10,000. 

 

Hurant's father included his own message on the funding site.

 

"While I'm not personally gay, I've always loved and accepted my son," he said "Over the past 20 years I've come to understand that Rentboy was a place for people to post classified ads, no different from those that appeared in The Village Voice, NY Magazine, and other publications that ran similar ads in 1997.  I assumed that our right to free speech protected those ads. 

 

"I came to believe that Jeffrey ran a business that helps people to live better and offers better safety to vulnerable people who need it."

 

Those wishing to help can do so here.

 

The company also held a sale on Craigslist over the weekend trying to sell off pretty much everything that was not seized by authorities, including furniture, office equipment and Rentboy.com memorabilia.

 

Wow, who knew that grown men selling sex was the biggest issue plaguing America?