MindGeek S.A.R.L., a company registered in Luxembourg, is one of the world’s most important website operators. The company is in porn business, with websites attracting 115+ million daily users. Its PornHub attracts 100+ million users daily. The company and its officers have been accused of facilitating rape, child abuse, and sex trafficking. Multiple lawsuits have been filed in the U.S. Most recently, MindGeed was sold in a strange transaction that financial analyst Evan Armstrong called a scam.
The Allegations
Pornhub is one of the largest porn websites and has faced intense scrutiny for previously hosting and monetizing videos that depicted child sexual abuse. After the New York Times article, The Children of Pornhub exposed the website’s practices, Visa and Mastercard suspended services from the site. In June 2022, MindGeek’s CEO, Feras Antoon, and COO, David Tassillo, departed. On March 16, 2023, Mindgeek was acquired by Ethical Capital Partners (ECP), a Canadian private equity firm.
The Austrian Shareholder?
No details of this transaction have been disclosed. In fact, it is unclear who the new owners are and whether the old MindGeek owners are not just using ECP as a Potemkin village. According to investigations by the Financial Times and Austrian media, the Austrian Bernd Bergmair (Wikipedia) is said to have been one of the controlling owners of MindGeek. In a 2021 hearing before the Canadian Parliament, Feras Antoon and David Tassillo claimed that Bergmair owns more than 50 percent of MindGeek but is not involved in the day-to-day operations.
On March 16th, Pornhub announced it had been bought by—get this—“Ethical Capital Partners.” It’s like the Medellin Cartel getting bought by “Totally Not Crime LLC.
Evan Armstrong (link to article)
The Unknown Owners
The Canadian entrepreneur Rocco Meliambro founded ECP. Its partner and vice president of compliance, the former criminal defense lawyer and law professor Solomon Friedman, said there would be massive “social, financial, and technological” value in sharing how Mindgeek hosts and moderates content about “sex-positive expression between consenting adults.” ECP would have complete control over its new assets, he said. In a press release, the firm says it is seeking investment opportunities in industries requiring “principled ethical leadership.”
According to Evan Armstrong, most likely, ECP bought MindGeek with capital from unknown third-party capital. U.S. funds and most other investment firms are forbidden by their LPs from investing in “sin stocks,” such as MindGeek. Armstrong concluded that the capital came from “extremely high net-worth” individuals or foreign funds not bound by Western finance norms.
The Sensible Data Hub
MindGeek has sensitive data about hundreds of millions of people, their sex habits, and payment data. Some observers correctly note that this data is perfect for blackmail or buying influence. In this respect, it should be in the public interest to know more about MindGeek‘s owners.
Share Information
If you have information about MindGeek, an operator, owner, and activities information, please share it through our whistleblower system, Whistle42.
