Aylo, the Montreal-founded company formerly called MindGeek, “knowingly enriched itself by turning a blind eye to the concerns of victims who communicated to the company that they were deceived and coerced into participating in illicit sexual activity,” according to a statement from the United States Attorney’s Office. The admission was part of a deferred prosecution agreement, in which the company avoids a money-laundering charge. The Luxembourg-based company must pay nearly US$1.9 million to the U.S. government and unspecified amounts to victims. It must also submit to an independent monitor of its business for three years. (The Logic)

Talking point: As The Logic reported in November, the company behind Pornhub and other adult titles was subject of a U.S. criminal investigation regarding its relationship with sex-trafficking website GirlsDoPorn, which was a Pornhub content partner between 2011 and 2019. Aylo repeatedly failed to remove sexually explicit content produced by the site, despite numerous complaints from women that they were coerced into appearing in the videos. “Aylo deeply regrets that its platforms hosted any content produced by” GirlsDoPorn, said Sarah Bain, public engagement VP at Ethical Capital Partners, the Ottawa-founded, British Virgin Islands-based private equity fund that owns Aylo.