The owner of an online pornography exchange called “The Ho Zone” — which allegedly featured women who were subject to blackmail, famous female athletes who were hacked, and revenge porn victims — has been arrested by the FBI and charged by federal prosecutors with advertising, receiving and distributing child pornography, federal prosecutors say.
Kyle White, 24, of Louisville, Kentucky, had his first appearance in federal court in Kentucky on Thursday. An attorney for White did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
“White’s alleged conduct is abhorrent and depraved,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
“White ran a lucrative and illegal online pornography marketplace called ‘The Ho Zone,’ where he sold access to child pornography and illegally obtained adult pornography to thousands of people,” Williams said.
Federal prosecutors allege that “White advertised and sold child pornography on ‘The Ho Zone,’ which depicted minor victims as young as 11 years old, as well as minor victims engaging in sexually explicit conduct with their minor victim siblings.
White is also accused of selling “illegally obtained adult pornography on ‘The Ho Zone,’ including pornography that had been hacked from women’s cellphones and pornography that was the product of blackmail,” including social media influencers and female athletes.
The criminal complaint alleges that White told someone on Telegram that he made more than $300,000 the first year running his website.
If convicted, White faces a mandatory 15 years in jail for advertisement of child pornography with a maximum of 30 years. On the receipt and distribution of child pornography charge, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
